SpaceX shares continued to fall on Friday, the day after the test flight of the Starship rocket was canceled at the last second amid volatile post-IPO trading, UNN reports citing CNBC.
Details
The aerospace giant was expected to launch its mega-rocket Starship within a 90-minute window at 5:45 p.m. Texas time on Thursday, but an engine ignition system failure forced SpaceX to cancel the launch.
"Some engines didn't start, which led to an automatic launch abort, - wrote billionaire founder Elon Musk in a post on X. - Fuel is being offloaded now. Hopefully, the next launch attempt will be in a few days."
Shares fell about 4% on Friday, dropping further below the IPO price of $135, and appear to be heading for a sixth consecutive day of decline.
Musk's SpaceX shares fall below IPO price16.07.26, 12:39
Musk later added in his post that two Raptor engines will be removed and replaced, with the launch rescheduled for early next week.
Investors are closely monitoring the company's rocket tests after it raised a record $85.7 billion in June during the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, setting the share price at $135. SpaceX shares have fluctuated since their stock market debut.
This was SpaceX's first test flight of the Starship V3 after a successful IPO. A previous attempt in May failed after the Starship upper stage headed toward the Indian Ocean. The Super Heavy booster failed to make a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico after five of the 33 Raptor engines failed to reignite.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched an investigation into the incident and on Monday allowed the company to continue testing.