SpaceX shares extended their slide after a Starship test launch stopped seconds before liftoff, adding pressure to a stock already trading below its June IPO price.
SpaceX Stock Drops Below IPO Price
SpaceX Corp. shares fell on Friday for a fifth straight session after the company’s Starship rocket aborted its 13th flight test at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The stock opened around 4% lower near $126, below the company’s June IPO price of $135.
SPCX later traded near $126.08, down about 3.84%, while market posts showed the stock had fallen more than 40% from its peak. During the decline, SPCX erased more than $1 trillion in market value since the June high.
The latest drop followed Thursday’s close at $131.11, which marked the first finish below the IPO price. Other market trackers reported a new low near $122 as selling pressure continued after the aborted test.
SpaceX recently joined the Nasdaq-100, which brought added attention from institutional investors and index-linked funds. The company still faces pressure from recent losses, launch setbacks, and concerns over how quickly Starship can meet its testing goals.
Starship Launch Stops Before Liftoff
The Starship launch attempt stopped during the ignition sequence, just seconds before the planned liftoff. Launch telemetry showed that four of the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite, triggering the automated launch system.
The abort system shut down the remaining engines and kept the full vehicle on the pad. SpaceX teams then began offloading propellant from the rocket as engineers reviewed the issue.
Elon Musk confirmed the reason for the launch stop in a post on X. He wrote, “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort.” He added that teams were offloading propellant and that another launch attempt could come within days.
Source: X
Musk later wrote that SpaceX would replace two Raptor engines “to be confident of a good flight.” The company is now targeting Monday, July 20, at 6:45 p.m. ET for the next Starship test attempt.
New Starship Test Remains Key for NASA Plans
The aborted mission would have marked Starship’s 13th flight test and carried 20 upgraded Starlink V3 satellites. The mission was expected to test orbital communications while advancing Starship and Super Heavy V3 development.
The next flight will target similar goals from the previous test. SpaceX plans to test launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and a landing burn toward an offshore point.
The launch attempt came after the Federal Aviation Administration cleared SpaceX to resume Starship testing earlier this week. That clearance followed an investigation into the previous test in May.
During that May mission, the Starship upper stage completed its planned path toward the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy booster lost multiple engines before its landing burn. The booster then descended uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship remains central to NASA’s Artemis Moon plans. NASA selected SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop lunar landers for future missions, including Artemis III, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface.
