SpaceX's Starship Just Reached Orbit For The First Time. Is it Lift-Off Time For The Stock?

For the first time, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) has put a Starship in orbit. The rocket reached low-earth-orbit (LEO) and successfully delivered a payload of 26 next-generation satellites on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 after launching from Starbase Texas.

It's a big deal and a major step forward for a rocket that, until now, has only released satellites on a path that brought them back to Earth. This was Starship's 14th test flight, and while generally successful, there were still several reminders that this was indeed a test flight and the program is still in development.

Starship reaches orbit, but the test ends early

Shortly after the two sections of the rocket separated, one of the ship's engines shut down early before reaching orbit. SpaceX initially said it would bring the rocket back to earth, but decided to continue.

After successfully reaching orbit, roughly 269 kilometers above the Earth, Starship then released 26 Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX said they appeared to be operating normally.

Because of the engine mishap, flight control decided to bring the ship back after about 3 hours, despite the original plan for a 10 hour journey. The upper part of the rocket made a controlled splashdown in the Pacific, while the lower half, the Super-Heavy booster, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Why this rocket matters so much to Starlink

Starship is a major operational lynchpin for the company. The rocket is much larger than its current Falcon-9 workhorse, and is capable of carrying the new, larger V3 satellites for Starlink.

Eventually, Starship is intended to be reusable: SpaceX wants to catch both parts of the rocket and use them again without building a whole new vehicle for every flight. That could dramatically reduce the cost of space flight and change the economics of the industry.

But, as today's mission makes clear, there is a ways to go to fulfilling that vision. Serious progress has been made, but Starship still hasn't proven it can run a full mission without incident, let alone reliably do so time and again.

A milestone doesn't settle the financial questions

In the second quarter, SpaceX brought in $7.8 billion in revenue, up 92% year over year, and narrowed its operating loss to $143 million. Its net loss came in at $541 million.

The Connectivity segment generated $4.3 billion in revenue and $1.65 billion in operating profit. But there's a catch to those numbers. When SpaceX launches its own Starlink satellites, the rocket business doesn't book any revenue for those launches. Instead, Connectivity carries the costs on its balance sheet and depreciates them over time.

That helps explain why the Space segment reported just $962 million in revenue and a $542 million operating loss. If SpaceX charged Starlink market rates for those launches, Space would look much better -- and Connectivity would look less like a financial unicorn.

SpaceXAI is still spending cash hand over fist on data centers, with $15.8 billion in capital expenditures last quarter alone. But deals with Anthropic, Google's parent company Alphabet, and a few others have dramatically changed its revenue picture, and potentially profitability too, once everything is up and running. It expects up to $3.4 billion per month in revenue once that happens.

Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.