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The 12th Starship rocket launch by SpaceX, due to take place on Thursday from Texas, has been delayed, with the company planning another attempt at the test flight on Friday.
This comes only a day after SpaceX revealed that it was working towards its stock market debut. This is widely expected to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, with the company aiming for a valuation of $1.75 trillion (€1.51tn).
This has made the Starship V3’s launch even more critical, as it could significantly impact share sales once SpaceX goes public.
The rocket is uncrewed and has already seen dozens of upgrades tailored specifically for quick NASA moon missions and Starlink satellite launches. It has faced several months of delays due to extensive testing and redesigning processes already.
Thursday’s launch was called off mere seconds before the event, after the countdown was stopped several times due to pressure and fuel temperature issues.
“The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract. If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT,” Elon Musk said in a post on social media platform X on Thursday.
Another launch slot will open at 22:30 GMT on Friday, during which a second attempt at the test flight could be made.
Musk has already attempted to reassure investors that failure would not have a very significant impact, and would only delay future test launches by around a month, as there are several other V3 ships and boosters.
This also reflects the company’s overall strategy, which relies on extreme flight-testing to scope out failure points, after which a series of fine-tuning enhancements are carried out.
SpaceX has already spent over $15bn (€12.9bn) developing the fully reusable Starship, which is expected to make establishing orbital data centers and pursuing deep-space exploration easier, while slashing launch costs.
In its IPO filing, the company described the Starship V3 as “the most powerful launch system ever developed”.
“We expect that Starship V3 will be able to carry a payload of 100 metric tons, with future generations of Starship being designed to double this payload,” the filing said.
SpaceX IPO could make Musk the first-ever trillionaire
SpaceX will be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, typically most popular with tech company IPOs. This move is likely to make Musk the first-ever trillionaire, after being the first person to hit a net worth of over $500bn (€430.8bn) last year.
Currently, the company is due to go public on 12 June, under the ticker symbol SPCX. SpaceX submitted its confidential filing on 1 April 2026, with the official release of its public S-1 prospectus taking place in mid-May. An investor roadshow is also planned for early June.
The company will have a dual-class share structure, with Musk retaining more than 85% of the combined voting power.
Although several major retail brokerage platforms are expected to offer SpaceX shares, allocations are yet to be revealed, due to considerable demand being anticipated.