SpaceX stock closes at lows after first test flight since IPO scrubbed
Pras Subramanian· Senior Reporter
Updated Sat, July 18, 2026 at 1:42 AM GMT+5:30
2 min read
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SpaceX (SPCX) stock continues to dominate headlines following scrapped plans for a Starship test flight. Thursday night’s stoppage comes as SpaceX shares plumb new lows
Right before scheduled liftoff last night, SpaceX abruptly canceled its launch of Starship V3, the company’s latest spacecraft. CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that “[s]ome of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort” and that the company would try again “hopefully in a few days.”
Now, SpaceX needs to transport both stages of the vehicle — Starship and the Super Heavy booster — back to its hangar, remove all its fuel, and then determine what went wrong
Tesla stock tumbled to a new closing low of $123.99, down 5.4% for the day
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Thursday night’s launch was expected to be a catalyst for the stock. SpaceX attempted the 13th test flight of its Starship rocket — the largest and most powerful ever built — and its first Starship launch since the company’s June 12 IPO
This was also supposed to be the second launch of Starship’s Version 3, a bigger, more powerful design that debuted less than two months ago.
SpaceX said Thursday’s launch was aimed at primarily testing the booster’s ability to execute a successful launch, stage separation, and return to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, Starship will need to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites and return to Earth in a controlled descent, with splashdown in the Indian Ocean
While investors would like nothing less than a successful launch, Wall Street is taking a more cautious approach
“There will be plenty to analyze from Flight 13, but over time, we expect both progress and setbacks as SpaceX moves toward its goal of launching Starship dozens of times next year, followed by hundreds of times in 2028, and then thousands beyond,” JPMorgan’s Seth Seifman wrote in a note to clients ahead of the scrubbed launch
Though the test will provide more data on the rocket’s technical performance, Seifman is more interested in the cost and time associated with refurbishing the second stage, given the stress of reentry.
Usability is key. “Regarding the Starship business case, we are a bit more focused on how quickly that same second stage will refly,” he said
Pras Subramanian is Lead Transportation Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him onXand onInstagram
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