Elon Musk's Wealth Takes Hit as Spacex Starship Test Fails
WHO:
Forbes - Elon Musk is the founder of SpaceX and holds 4.8 billion shares of the company.
CNBC - SpaceX is an aerospace company that recently attempted a test flight of its Starship rocket.
WHAT:
Forbes - Musk's net worth is now smaller than it was before SpaceX’s record-setting IPO, falling below the $813 billion his fortune was valued at as of June 3.
Yahoo Finance - The Thursday night's launch was expected to be a catalyst for the stock, as it was the first test flight since the company's June 12 IPO.
Yahoo Finance - SpaceX attempted the 13th test flight of its Starship rocket, which is the largest and most powerful ever built, and its first Starship launch since the company's IPO.
Yahoo Finance - The launch was aimed at primarily testing the booster's ability to execute a successful launch, stage separation, and return to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as deploying 20 Starlink V3 satellites and returning to Earth in a controlled descent, with splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Forbes - SpaceX shares declined 4.4% to around $125 shortly after trading opened on a Friday.
Forbes - Musk's net worth dropped by $45.3 billion to $792.8 billion after the aborted launch.
CNBC - SpaceX stock has posted losses in nine of the last 10 trading days, plummeting nearly 23% since being added to the Nasdaq-100.
CNBC - The test flight for Starship was aborted due to an engine ignition failure, which triggered an automatic launch abort.
CNBC - Musk stated that the next launch attempt is planned for early next week.
WHERE:
CNBC - The test flight was scheduled to take place in Texas.
WHEN:
Forbes - The Starship's 13th launch was scheduled for Thursday evening.
CNBC - The next launch attempt is planned for early next week.
WHY:
Forbes - The decline in SpaceX shares followed Musk's announcement of the aborted launch due to engine failures.
CNBC - The launch was scrubbed because some of the engines did not start.
HOW:
CNBC - SpaceX needs to transport both stages of the vehicle — Starship and the Super Heavy booster — back to its hangar, remove all its fuel, and then determine what went wrong.
Forbes - Musk indicated that two Raptor engines will be removed and replaced before the next launch attempt.
Forbes - The Starship is designed to be the "world’s first fully and rapidly reusable spacecraft" to reduce costs to reach orbit by 99%.
(UPDATED July 18, 2026 01:24 UTC)
Musk's net worth has dropped below the $813 billion mark he reached on June 3, following SpaceX's recent test flight of its Starship rocket, which is the largest and most powerful ever built. This flight, the first since the company's IPO on June 12, was intended to test the booster’s launch capabilities, stage separation, and a controlled descent back to Earth, including the deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites. Following the launch, SpaceX will need to transport both stages of the vehicle back to its hangar, remove all fuel, and investigate what went wrong.
--
(UPDATED July 17, 2026 22:24 UTC)
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, holds 4.8 billion shares in the aerospace company, which recently faced a setback when a test flight of its Starship rocket was aborted due to an engine ignition failure. Following this incident, SpaceX shares dropped 4.4% to around $125, contributing to a significant decline in Musk's net worth, which fell by $45.3 billion to $792.8 billion. Musk announced plans to remove and replace two Raptor engines before the next launch attempt, which is scheduled for early next week.