SpaceX scrubbed the debut launch of its most powerful rocket just one day after filing for what is expected to be the largest initial public offering in Wall Street history.
The uncrewed test flight of the Starship V3 megarocket was halted on Thursday evening at the company's Starbase facility in South Texas, with the countdown pausing at T-40 seconds before being called off after issues with the water diverter system beneath the launch pad.
Elon Musk said on social media that a malfunctioning hydraulic pin on part of the launch tower was to blame, adding that if the fault could be fixed overnight, another attempt would be made on Friday.
The latest launch has taken on greater significance given that SpaceX is planning to price its blockbuster IPO as early as 11 June.
Goldman Sachs is lead underwriter on the prospectus, followed by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.
The company, officially known as Space Exploration Technologies, valued itself at $1.25 trillion in its filing, though some reports have pointed to a valuation of up to $1.75 trillion, with BlackRock reportedly considering an investment of up to $10 billion.
A successful Starship launch would provide a timely boost ahead of the investor roadshow, which is expected to begin around 4 June.
The company brought in $18.6 billion in revenue last year but posted a net loss of $4.9 billion, while first-quarter 2026 figures showed $4.7 billion in sales against a net loss of $4.3 billion.
Capital expenditure in the first quarter totalled $10.1 billion, more than doubling from a year earlier, with $7.7 billion of that directed towards artificial intelligence through xAI, the AI subsidiary that merged with SpaceX earlier this year.
The Starship V3 launch has already slipped multiple times this year, having originally been targeted for March before being pushed to April and then into May.
The rocket is designed to be fully reusable and carry far larger payloads than SpaceX's existing Falcon rocket, with the company claiming it can lift 100 metric tonnes and that future versions will double that capacity.
NASA is counting on Starship to serve as the lander for its Artemis IV mission, currently scheduled for early 2028, which would mark the first American crewed lunar landing since the Apollo era.
Musk's majority ownership of SpaceX means the listing could push his personal fortune past the trillion-dollar mark, having already become the first person to achieve a net worth exceeding $500 billion last year.