--- title: "SpaceX Is Learning a Nasty Lesson About Going Public When Your Main Product Is Experimental" description: "SpaceX is learning a tough lesson: when your stock is publicly traded, your public experiments become financial drama." date: "2026-07-20" modified: "2026-07-20" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/spacex-lesson-going-public-starship-experimental" categories: - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" --- # SpaceX Is Learning a Nasty Lesson About Going Public When Your Main Product Is Experimental ![A photo illustration featuring Elon Musk.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Marc Piasecki / Getty Images; Shutterstock* On Thursday, Elon Musk's SpaceX [was forced to call off]() the latest launch attempt of its enormous Starship spacecraft. According to the almost-trillionaire, several engines failed to start, unintentionally serving as the perfect metaphor for the company's persistent Wall Street woes. While a scrub of a rocket launch isn't exactly anything out of the ordinary, it was the first attempt following the company's blockbuster IPO last month. At first, SpaceX's stock rocketed to an all-time high of $225 by mid-June, buoyed by plenty of pent-up investor enthusiasm. But ever since, the company has struggled to recapture that early unbridled optimism. Shares have slid consistently over the last four weeks, a bruising Wall Street performance that sheds light on lingering doubts over SpaceX's ability to justify its vast multi-trillion dollar valuation. Shares dipped below a bruising $120 before trading stopped on Monday afternoon, a new record low that's well below SpaceX's IPO price of $135. That means the plummeting stock has wiped out almost half of its value compared to its all-time high, [representing over $1 trillion in market cap](). Anybody who bought shares after the IPO is [now officially underwater](). It's not difficult to come up with reasons behind the company's ongoing stock market troubles. As SpaceX's years-long struggle to develop its super heavy launch platform demonstrates, Musk's ambitions for the company are largely built on hopes and dreams, from orbital data centers to a city on Mars, which are cool sci-fi concepts but entirely unproven in the real world. SpaceX is now [targeting this Thursday evening]() for its next attempt to launch its Starship, the 13th test flight in over three years. Despite billions of dollars spent, many of these launches have [ended in enormous explosions](). The stakes couldn't be higher. SpaceX's long-term ambitions are all tied up with the success of its Starship platform. Without it, the company may not be able to keep up with its ambitious [plans to expand]() its Starlink satellite constellation, [help NASA reach the surface of the Moon](), and [settle on Mars](). That's not to mention SpaceX's lucrative [multibillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon](). On the other hand, SpaceX has bought itself plenty of time by [raising tens of billions of dollars]() following its IPO. That's despite having lost almost $5 billion in 2025. Whether that will be enough cash to turn Starship into a viable and quick-turnaround space launch platform remains to be seen. For one, the degree of complexity is enormous. The spacecraft is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — and sticking the landing without erupting into a fireball is proving far more difficult than SpaceX may have anticipated. **More on SpaceX:** [*SpaceX Investors Are Lamenting All the Money They’ve Lost*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()