Musk’s SpaceX postpones Starship launch as mega share sale looms
By BBC, May 22, 2026SpaceX has postponed the launch of its massive Starship rocket and said it plans to make another attempt at the highly anticipated test flight on Friday.
It comes just a day after the firm revealed plans for a record-breaking stock market debut, where the successful launch of the powerful new rocket could help entice investors into buying shares.
The initial public offering (IPO) on the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock market is set to be the largest in Wall Street history and could start next month under the ticker symbol SPCX.
Because of the shares he will own in SpaceX, the listing could make Elon Musk, who is already the world’s richest person, the first-ever trillionaire.
Musk said on social media that the delay was caused by a malfunctioning hydraulic pin on part of the launch tower.
“If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT [22:30 GMT],” he added.
Space X
SpaceX makes rockets, offers a satellite internet service called Starlink, and also owns the controversial artificial intelligence (AI) firm xAI.
The uncrewed launch will mark the debut of the Starship V3 rocket after months of testing delays.
SpaceX described it as “the most powerful launch system ever developed” in its IPO filing.
“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,” it added.
It features dozens of upgrades designed for rapid launches of the firm’s Starlink satellites and NASA missions to the moon.
Starship programme
SpaceX has spent more than KSh 1.95 quadrillion on the Starship programme, according to the filing.
SpaceX values itself at about KSh 162.5 quadrillion, and Musk’s majority ownership of the company means his share could be worth more than KSh 78 trillion.
Last year, Musk, who is also the chief executive of electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla, became the first person to achieve a net worth of more than KSh 65 trillion.
Last year, Space Exploration Technologies — as it is officially known — brought in about KSh 2.4 trillion in revenue but recorded a net loss of about KSh 637 billion.
In the first three months of this year, it achieved around KSh 611 billion in sales but recorded a net loss of about KSh 559 billion.