SpaceX employees go to work at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California, on the day of their company’s initial public offering, June 12, 2026.
Mike Blake | Reuters
SpaceX stock has posted losses in nine of the last 10 trading days, and as of Friday’s close, had plummeted nearly 23% since the company was added to the Nasdaq-100.
Friday’s loss of 5.43% marked a sixth-straight losing day and came after Elon Musk‘s space and artificial intelligence company aborted a test flight for its Starship rocket.
The aerospace giant was expected to launch its Starship mega rocket within a 90-minute window beginning at 5:45 p.m. in Texas on Thursday, but an engine ignition failure forced SpaceX to scrub the launch.
“Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” billionaire founder Musk said in a post on X. “Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days.”
Musk later added in a post that two Raptor engines will be removed and replaced, and said a launch is planned again for early next week.
SpaceX’s stock chart.
The Nasdaq fast-tracked the company’s inclusion in the index, allowing SpaceX to be added after just 15 trading days. Previously, companies had to wait months.
Investors are watching the company’s rocket tests more closely after it raised a record $85.7 billion in the biggest initial public offering ever in June, pricing shares at $135.
SpaceX’s shares have soared and dipped since its stock market debut.
Thursday’s launch window was set to be SpaceX’s first test flight of Starship V3 since its blockbuster IPO. A previous attempt in May failed after sending the Starship’s upper stage toward the Indian Ocean. The Super Heavy booster failed to make a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico after five of its 33 Raptor engines failed to reignite.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered an investigation into the mishap and on Monday cleared the company so it could continue its test trials.
