SpaceX shares hit a new low following a mixed-results flight test of the Starship megarocket.
SpaceX shares reached a new nadir of $110, falling over 20 percent below its IPO opening price. This decline occurred despite a recent thirteenth test flight of the Starship megarocket, which yielded mixed results for investors. While the upper stage of the spacecraft successfully deployed a payload of Starlink satellites and survived a reentry into the Indian Ocean, the booster performed poorly. Only ten of the thirteen engines fired during the return journey, causing the booster to explode upon impact in the Gulf of Mexico. Analysts suggest that being a public company now subjects SpaceX to intense market scrutiny. Unlike its private status, every launch and decision is now evaluated by market prices. This pressure is added to the company's ongoing financial challenges, as SpaceX lost $5 billion last year. Investors are now tasked with funding a lengthy and expensive science experiment where progress is not guaranteed to be linear. The success of the company's future depends on making Starship a reliably reusable vehicle to achieve the necessary economies of scale.