SpaceX (SPCX) Stock: Starship Goes Orbital on Sept. 22 and It Could Be a Turning Point

TLDR

• SpaceX has set September 22 as the launch date for Starship’s 14th test flight, its first attempt at a stable Earth orbit.
• The mission will complete six orbits over 10 hours and deploy Starlink V3 satellites, marking Starship’s first revenue-generating flight.
• SPCX stock traded at $144.25 on Wednesday, up around 6% from its June IPO price of $135.
• Cathie Wood projected each Starship launch could generate $1 billion in revenue, extrapolating to $10 trillion annually by 2030.
• Elon Musk confirmed V3 deployment begins this month, with each V3 satellite delivering 1 Tbps of downlink capacity, over 20 times that of a Falcon 9 launch.

---

SpaceX stock edged up 0.5% in premarket trading Wednesday to $144.25, about 6% above its June IPO price of $135, as the company confirmed a September 22 launch date for Starship’s 14th test flight.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SPCX

The mission will be the first time Starship’s upper stage enters a stable Earth orbit. The plan calls for six orbits over a 10-hour window, with the launch window opening at 8:15 a.m. Eastern time, pending regulatory approval.

This flight will also carry production Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said it will be Starship’s first “revenue-generating flight.”

The 13th test, launched in July, went well. The booster landed offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, and the upper stage deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. The upper stage was unexpectedly recovered, giving SpaceX a rare look at its heat shield.

Cathie Wood’s $10 Trillion Projection

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood posted on X that each Starship launch could generate $1 billion in revenue, based on ARK researcher Sam Korus’s estimate that a single launch could add around 61 terabits per second of capacity to the Starlink network.

Each Starship launch could generate $1 billion in revenue. Elon is aiming for 10,000 flights per year, or $10 trillion in Starship revenues, by 2030. If SpaceX achieves this goal, its $1.75 trillion IPO will be considered, in hindsight, a deep value opportunity! https://t.co/sRyaGM9PBK

— Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) September 16, 2026

Wood extrapolated that if SpaceX hits Musk’s stated target of 10,000 flights per year, that could translate into $10 trillion in annual Starship revenue by 2030. She called SpaceX’s $1.75 trillion IPO valuation a potential “deep value opportunity” in hindsight.

Musk replied to Wood’s post on X: “It’s not impossible.”

It is worth noting that the $10 trillion figure is ARK’s extrapolation, not SpaceX guidance. Musk said in June the company “might be able to reach approximately $1T revenue in 2030.” SpaceX reported $18.67 billion in revenue in 2025.

Why V3 Satellites Matter

Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday that SpaceX will begin deploying its next-generation Starlink V3 constellation this month. Each V3 satellite is designed to deliver 1 Tbps of downlink capacity. Starship can eventually deploy up to 60 V3 satellites in a single mission, compared to Falcon 9’s much smaller payload.

That is more than 20 times the Starlink downlink capacity per launch. The V3 network is expected to eventually deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of Starlink’s current roughly 11,000-satellite network.

Starship’s full reusability, covering both the upper and lower stages, is central to SpaceX’s cost argument. The Falcon 9’s upper stage is expended on every flight, while Starship is designed to fly both stages again.

SPCX stock has traded in a wide range since its June debut, hitting a high of $225.64 and a low of $104.83. After-hours Tuesday, the stock was down 0.58% to $142.66.