SpaceX Launched Its Starship Into Orbit For The First Time. Its Stock Is Edging Down.

SpaceX launched its Starship into orbit for the first time on Monday, saying it managed to deploy 26 satellites into orbit and make contact with all of them.

However, the stock is edging down in the immediate aftermath of the launch, falling 0.76% at 10:24 a.m. ET. The rocket almost didn't achieve the goal after experiencing issues with one of the engines, but flight controllers decided to go ahead anyway after the faulty equipment was no longer needed.

The launch is Starship's 14th in three years, but it is the first one that goes into orbit. It is expected to do six laps around earth in an attempt to prove it is ready for NASA's Artemis moon program. It is set to splash down in the Pacific near Chile after about 10 hours.

The company said it wants to make sure everything works before attempting to bring the rocket back to Starbase. Company CEO Elon Musk said earlier this month that, should it explode and debris rain down on people, "our popularity would diminish very rapidly." If this attempt is successful, the next one will seek to return to the launch pad.

If certified by NASA, the company could be involved in the Artemis III mission, which could take place as soon as next summer. It is expected to be a triple-launch docking exercise in orbit between an Orion capsule and other lunar landers. The next one won't take place before 2028 and it will feature astronauts landing on the moon either on Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon or Starship.

SpaceX regularly works with NASA, which recently awarded it up to $946 million to fly three additional astronaut missions to the International Space Station through 2030.

The company said earlier this month that it had modified its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract with SpaceX to add Crew-15, Crew-16 and Crew-17, extending the company's role in transporting astronauts to and from the orbiting laboratory. The new missions will bring SpaceX's total under the contract to 17 operational crew flights.

The $946 million award covers considerably more than the launches themselves. According to NASA, SpaceX will provide "ground, launch, in-orbit, and return and recovery operations, cargo transportation for each mission, and a lifeboat capability while docked to the International Space Station," while Dragon remains docked to the ISS.

The latest award pushes the total value of SpaceX's Commercial Crew contract with NASA to $5.92 billion. SpaceX was originally selected alongside Boeing in 2014 under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, an initiative designed to restore U.S. astronaut transportation capabilities following the retirement of the Space Shuttle. NASA certified SpaceX's Crew Dragon for astronaut missions in November 2020.

Since then, Dragon has become NASA's primary operational vehicle for rotating crews to the ISS. Boeing's Starliner, by comparison, has faced years of technical setbacks. A June report from NASA's Office of Inspector General said Starliner remained uncertified for regular crew transportation after three flight tests uncovered numerous issues carrying varying levels of mission risk.