SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Sept. 28 during its 14th test flight and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. The milestone did not lift the company’s stock, which closed about 2% lower that day.
The flight demonstrated Starship’s ability to deliver satellites, but neither stage was recovered. The Super Heavy booster splashed down in the Gulf after a planned flight-termination-system demonstration, while the ship landed in the northern Pacific after controllers shortened its time in orbit when an engine shut down early.
That leaves the central cost claim untested. SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said in August that Starship aims to carry four times more payload and reduce launch costs tenfold compared with Falcon 9. The company’s IPO prospectus identifies reusable first and second stages as critical to lowering costs and increasing launch frequency. SpaceX has caught three Super Heavy boosters and reflown two, but it has never caught a ship.
Lower launch costs could also affect Starlink’s economics. SpaceX does not record revenue when it launches its own satellites; those costs are added to the satellites’ balance-sheet value and later recognized as depreciation in the connectivity segment. Connectivity depreciation and amortization reached $805 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 41% from a year earlier and above the first quarter’s $783 million.
Starship’s capacity is also relevant to the network’s expansion. The IPO prospectus says one Starship could eventually carry as many as 60 V3 satellites, making Flight 14’s 26 satellites less than half a full load.
Musk has said V3 satellites will not noticeably improve service until roughly 1,000 are in orbit, a level he expects around the second quarter of 2027. Reaching that total would require about 37 more Starship flights at 26 satellites per launch, or at least 17 at 60. Since the program has completed 14 flights in total, the figures imply that repeated use of the ship and booster would be important to that launch pace.
Musk wrote on Aug. 20 that a ship catch could come within a few months and that the first ship reflight might occur late this year or early next year, with Flight 15 a possible catch attempt. He had previously said on an Aug. 4 earnings call that SpaceX would try to catch the ship on Flight 14.
At about $168, SpaceX’s market value stood above $2. 2 trillion, or more than 70 times annualized second-quarter sales. That valuation leaves limited room for Starship’s promised cost advantage to remain unproven. Orbit was an important test result; a successful ship catch and reflight would address the part of the system that remains un demonstrated.