SpaceX shares fall after Starship test launch aborted by engine ignition failure
Published: 09:32 17 Jul 2026 EDT
SpaceX Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) shares fell on Friday for a fifth consecutive session after the company's Starship rocket automatically aborted a test launch moments before liftoff because of an engine ignition issue.
Shares of SpaceX opened 4% lower at $126, below the company’s June initial public offering price of $135.
The launch attempt at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, was halted just seconds before the planned liftoff during the ignition sequence. Launch telemetry showed that four of the rocket's 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite, triggering the automated safety system to shut down the remaining engines and keep the vehicle on the launch pad.
Launch teams then began offloading propellant from the rocket.
"Some of the engines didn't start, triggering an automatic launch abort," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on the social media platform X. "Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days."
In a follow-up post, Musk wrote that SpaceX would replace two Raptor engines "to be confident of a good flight," with the next launch attempt targeted for early next week.
The mission would have marked the 13th test flight of Starship and was carrying 20 upgraded V3 Starlink satellites intended to test orbital communications.
The US Federal Aviation Administration cleared SpaceX to resume Starship test flights earlier this week following an investigation into the company's previous test in May. During that mission, the Starship upper stage completed its planned trajectory toward the Indian Ocean, but the Super Heavy booster lost multiple engines before its landing burn and descended uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico.
The latest test marked the first full-scale Starship launch attempt to be aborted at the final seconds before liftoff, with the rocket's automated launch system preventing the vehicle from leaving the pad after detecting insufficient engine performance.
