SpaceX’s first Starship flight attempt since becoming a public company has turned into a fresh market headache.
Shares of the Texas-headquartered spacecraft manufacturer were down just over 3% in premarket trading on Friday after the company aborted a planned launch of its Starship rocket. The planned 13th Starship V3 launch was scrubbed during a 90-minute takeoff window.
The drop followed a 3% slide on Thursday and put the stock at $126.58 before the open. That left SpaceX almost $9 below the price at which it launched on the Nasdaq on June 12.
The move set the stock up for a fifth straight day of declines, adding pressure to a company whose public listing has drawn close attention from investors looking for exposure to commercial space, launch services and next-generation spacecraft manufacturing.
Markets are watching SpaceX because its IPO gave public investors a direct way to trade a company long viewed as central to the private space economy. Friday’s premarket move showed that launch execution is already being priced into the stock’s early public life.
For shareholders, the timing is awkward. The scrubbed flight was expected to be the company’s first launch since the IPO, giving investors an early test of whether SpaceX could pair public-market expectations with the operational risk that has always come with rocket development.
The shares were still trading before the opening bell, meaning the final move will depend on regular-session demand. But the early reaction was clear: the delayed launch gave sellers another reason to press a stock already below its debut price.
