On Friday, Space Exploration Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) failed to catch the booster of its Starship rocket during Flight 15, diverting it into the Gulf of Mexico, while the upper stage continued into orbit.
The rocket lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 5:47 p.m. ET. The booster burst into flames in the water. Test Flight 15, the most ambitious Starship test to date, was the first attempt to catch both the booster and the upper stage.
Upper Stage Targets Saturday Landing
The upper stage is expected to circle Earth 14 times. If the flight succeeds, SpaceX will try to land it at Starbase on Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration authorized the flight earlier Friday.
Starlink Expansion Drives Investor Focus
SpaceX released 26 Starlink v3 satellites on Flight 15, matching the prior test.
In a post on X, the company said its goal is "Starlink becoming 51% of the internet."
Starlink is the profit center and has more than 11,000 active satellites in low Earth orbit. SpaceX says one Starship can carry up to 60 v3 satellites, about 20 times a Falcon 9’s capacity.
William Blair analysts said SpaceX is "likely a full decade ahead of peers" in launches, according to a CNBC report. The analysts said in a Friday note that even if the catch is unsuccessful, a “delay by a few months is not that consequential.”
In June, Gavin Baker, managing partner and Chief Investment Officer at Atreides Management and an early SpaceX investor, said a reusable Starship could cut launch costs to about $5 billion per gigawatt of compute. He listed Starlink v3 deployment via reusable Starship as a milestone to track.
Trading Metrics
SpaceX has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a 52-week high of $225.64 and a 52-week low of $104.83.
Price Action: On Friday, SPCX stock closed at $139.11, down 0.59%, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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