SpaceX Stock Slips as 328 Million Shares Hit the Market and NASA Adds $946 Million in Crew Flights
Published on 09/24/2026 at 05:30 | Editorial boerse-global.de
A wave of newly tradable stock is colliding with one of SpaceX's strongest stretches of operational news, and for now the share supply is winning. The company's listing back in June was billed as a landmark moment for Wall Street, but the mechanics of going public are now making themselves felt in a way the pre-IPO hype tended to gloss over: liquidity.
Roughly 328 million shares became freely tradable as a contractual lockup expired, and the market's reaction was swift. The stock closed Wednesday at EUR 130.24, down 3.5%, after finishing the prior session at EUR 134.98. On the previous day of trading it had already shed 3.4% to land at EUR 130.34.
The end of a holding period does not mean every one of those shares will be dumped onto the exchange. Even so, recent history shows how sensitive the quotation is to fresh supply. Adding to the jitters, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell filed a Form 144, according to regulatory disclosures. The sale rests on a trading plan adopted under US Rule 10b5-1 back on June 23, but for market watchers the signal is hard to miss: when insiders cash in on exercised options, the cushion for optimistic forecasts thins out.
NASA Pads the Order Book
Against that backdrop, the company's operating side keeps delivering. NASA announced on September 18 a contract worth $946 million for three additional crewed flights to the International Space Station. The modification covers the Crew-15, Crew-16 and Crew-17 missions, lifting the total number of firmly booked rotation flights to 17. The expanded partnership gives SpaceX long-term utilization of its crew capsules in low Earth orbit.
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Activity elsewhere is no less brisk. On September 13 the company launched its 700th Falcon rocket, carrying satellites for operator SES, alongside payloads for the U.S. Space Force. Industry attention is now fixed on Texas, where the Super Heavy booster arrived at the launch pad on Monday. The first orbital launch of the Starship system with operational cargo is scheduled for Monday, September 28, at 12:15 GMT. That mission is to carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites, each designed to add 1 Tbps to the network — a single flight that would lift the constellation's total capacity by 26 Tbps. SpaceX had previously pushed the test date from mid-month to late September without giving a reason.
The Math Behind the Vision
Underneath the technical factors of the share unlock simmers a deeper question: how long can growth enthusiasm carry a business model whose investment needs are astronomical in scale? In the second quarter of 2026, the company posted clear gains, driven by connectivity revenue of $4.29 billion and $2.56 billion from the AI segment. The operating picture remains split. While the satellite business generates operating profits, rocket manufacturing and AI development booked noticeable operating losses in the quarter. The vision stretches far into the future, from orbital data centers to the hoped-for scaling of the Starship system.
Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale sees room for a price target of $800 under those scenarios. Other market participants counsel caution, pointing to heavy capital commitments and unclear termination terms on large contracts.
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A Chain of Deadlines, Not a One-Off
The gap between grand ambition and stock-market arithmetic is on open display. A valuation beyond the trillion mark demands bold projections stretching a decade out — and it must also withstand the selling intentions of early shareholders. The release of hundreds of millions of shares is only the first in a chain of further deadlines running into 2027. Investors should brace for the end of the pure future-fantasy phase. What begins now is the real market mechanism of supply, demand and bare quarterly results. Whether the operational wins can offset the current selling pressure will be settled in the coming trading sessions.
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