SpaceX launches high-stakes test flight as record-breaking stock market debut looms

SpaceX has launched its biggest, most powerful Starship on an uncrewed test flight.

The high-stakes trial run follows months of delays, with the next-generation spacecraft boasting major upgrades.

It comes days after Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX will go public next month, in what is shaping up to be the biggest stock market debut in history.

This could leave the company with a valuation of $1.75trn (£1.3trn) and turn the world's richest man into the world's first trillionaire.

Starship V3 blasted off from Texas and is critical for cutting launch costs and achieving Musk's ambitions of deep space exploration.

A successful mission would reinforce SpaceX's case that the world's largest and most powerful rocket is nearing commercial readiness after years of setbacks.

Earlier flights have ended in flames, with midair explosions raining wreckage down on the Atlantic during back-to-back launches last year.

This is the 12th Starship test flight since 2013 and the first involving this latest model, with a brand-new launchpad unveiled for the occasion.

Liftoff itself went well, but not all the engines fired as the booster attempted to make a controlled return back to Earth.

The spacecraft plummeted back to the Indian Ocean as intended, but tipped onto its side and ignited upon impact.

Success for Starship matters - as it could one day be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.

NASA is paying SpaceX and its rival, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, billions of dollars to provide the lunar landers that will be used in these future missions - with both companies scrambling to be first.

Starship V3 carried 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong flight that stretched halfway around the world.

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In 2025, Musk confidently predicted that Starship would make its first uncrewed voyage to Mars at the end of this year - a target that is now clearly out of reach.

On X, the entrepreneur praised his team for an "epic" launch and landing, writing: "You scored a goal for humanity."

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman had flown in to watch the launch, and reacted by saying that Starship is now one step closer to the moon.

(c) Sky News 2026: SpaceX launches high-stakes test flight as record-breaking stock market debut looms