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SpaceX soars 19% in record Nasdaq debut
SpaceX shares surged 19% in their debut trading session on the Nasdaq on Friday (Saturday AEST), propelling the aerospace and satellite communications company to a valuation exceeding US$2 trillion and cementing chief executive Elon Musk's position as the world's first trillionaire. Trading under the ticker SPCX, SpaceX opened at $150 a share after raising $75 billion in what became the largest initial public offering on record. The stock climbed as high as $176.52 during the session before closing at $160.95, attracting intense investor interest. More than 500 million shares changed hands on the first day of trading, approaching the volume recorded during the initial public offering of Facebook in 2012, when approximately 580 million shares were traded. Musk and SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell marked the occasion by ringing the opening bell, with Musk participating from Texas while Shotwell attended the ceremony at Nasdaq's headquarters in New York. Speaking on a JPMorgan Chase livestream ahead of the listing, Musk said SpaceX had generated positive cash flow since around 2015. He said the company was entering a "significant growth phase" and was seeking additional capital to support am
Space
SpaceX IPO pricing sets record US$1.77tn valuation
SpaceX has launched the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, with the pricing announced on Thursday, valuing Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company at US$1.77 trillion (A$2.5 trillion). The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday under the ticker ‘SPCX’ in the wake of the offering, which involved the sale of 555.56 million shares at $135 each to raise a record $75 million. This was disclosed in an update on the SpaceX website in which the company said it had also granted the underwriters of the offer a 30-day option to buy up to an extra 83.3 million shares of its Class A common stock at the IPO price. The IPO, which was almost three times larger than the previous record holder, Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion offer in 2019, was oversubscribed by three or four times with more than $250 billion of bids from investors. It means SpaceX will be among the world’s 10 most valuable companies as it enters public markets although it is making losses and its business model is heavily dependent on growth in space infrastructure, satellite broadband and artificial intelligence (AI). If it goes as planned, Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire, cementing his position as the we
Space
Musk’s SpaceX set to blast off for US$1.75tn IPO
SpaceX has lifted the veil on plans for potentially the world’s first initial public offering (IPO) valued at more than US$1 trillion (A$1.39 trillion). In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 20 May, the company founded by billionaire Elon Musk in 2002 confirmed reports it was preparing to list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker “SPCX” as early as mid-June. The filing did not place a value on the aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company, but media reports have suggested it could be worth up to $1.75 trillion (A$2.4 trillion) in what would be the largest IPO in history. “Our mission is to build the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars,” SpaceX said in its filing. The listing could pave the way for more huge IPOs in the coming months, including technology giants OpenAI and Anthropic. SpaceX reported a loss of $2.6 billion from operations on $18.7 billion of revenue last year due to heavy investment. The company, which has extensive contracts with the United States government, confidentially filed for an IPO last month, allowing for a regul
Space
Artemis II breaks record for distance from Earth
The four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II test flight made history by surpassing the record for the farthest distance from Earth. The astronauts set the record at 9:07 am AEST when they were around 406,778km from Earth. “At NASA, we dare to reach higher, explore farther, and achieve the impossible. That’s embodied perfectly by our Artemis II astronauts – Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy. They are charting new frontiers for all humanity,” Dr. Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said. This came after Artemis II lost contact with Earth for around 40 minutes. This mission is also the first time in over half a decade that a human crew has gone to the moon. While the astronauts won’t land on the moon, they will do a loop around it and take never-before-seen photos of the Earth and the moon. This will also inform future Artemis missions as NASA attempts to build its first-ever moon base. The mission comes as the United States ramps up efforts to reassert space leadership amid growing competition from China, which is making progress towards its own moon landing in 2030. NASA aims to have humans set foot on the moon
Space
SpaceX files for IPO ahead of analyst day - sources
SpaceX has reportedly taken another step toward the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history by confidentially filing draft registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The IPO could value the private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk at more than US$1.5 trillion (A$2.2 trillion), according to media reports. The company is looking to raise up to $75 billion, which would be more than three times the size of the biggest United States IPO to date, CNBC reported in this story. The filing puts the company on track for a June listing, Bloomberg wrote in this article. SpaceX and Musk, the world’s wealthiest person with a net worth of almost $840 billion, have not formally confirmed the reports, which are based on anonymous sources. The company, established to develop and operate reusable rockets, ‌will host an analyst day on 21 April, including a visit to its "Macrohard" xAI data centre in Memphis, Tennessee, two days later, according to this Reuters story. SpaceX will have to release a public filing at least 15 days before its IPO road show. A confidential filing allows companies to submit their financial statements

Space
NASA to send first crew to the moon in over 50yrs
NASA is preparing to launch its first crew to the Moon in 53 years on its second Artemis mission. The mission will consist of three United States and one Canadian astronaut, who are due to liftoff aboard NASA’s Orion capsule and Space Launch System early Thursday morning for a 10-day test mission swinging around the moon. The journey will also take them further into space than humans have ever gone. This will act as a key test flight in humanity’s border goals as the U.S. races to reassert leadership in space amid growing competition from China, which is making progress toward its own moon landing in 2030. The mission will be the first crewed test flight in the NASA Artemis program and is estimated to have cost at least US$93 billion since 2012. Humans have not set foot on the moon’s surface since 1972, and NASA aims to complete this once again in 2028. So far, the U.S. is the only country in the world to put humans on another celestial body with its six lunar landings of the Apollo program, driven by competition with the former Soviet Union. This also comes as NASA is hoping to stimulate the commercial lunar market in the future. A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report from January predicted $127 in revenues
Space
SpaceX may file for IPO this week; space stocks soar
Space stocks surged after reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX could file for an initial public offering as soon as this week. The IPO could raise more than US$75 billion and would value the company at $1.75 trillion, The Information reported. Shares in Firefly Aerospace and Rocket Lab closed 16% and 10.3% higher respectively. SpaceX was valued at $1.25 trillion in February after it acquired artificial intelligence business xAI, another company run by Musk. “SpaceX has acquired xAI to form the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth,” Musk wrote at the time. SpaceX has been interviewing banks for leading roles in the IPO, Reuters reported earlier in March, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. The company is reportedly targeting a June listing. It generated almost $16 billion in revenue and $7.5 billion in EBITDA last year, per Morningstar estimates. This was largely due to major subscriber growth at its satellite internet segment Starlink. Satellite designer AST SpaceMobile’s shares closed 10.4% higher today, while York Space Systems was up 5.1%. Lunar exploration company Intuitive Machines rose 14.7%, having also been lifted by a $180.4 milli
Space
NASA cancels lunar orbit to build US$20bn moon base
NASA has cancelled plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a US$20 billion base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years. NASA chief Jared Isaacman made the announcement at the opening of a daylong event at NASA’s Washington headquarters, at which he outlined changes he is making to the agency’s flagship moon programme, Artemis. “It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface,” Isaacman told delegates at the event. The Lunar Gateway station was largely already built, with contractors Northrop Grumman and Vantor, formerly Maxar, which was intended to be a space station parked in a lunar orbit. Isaacman said the repurposing of the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple. "Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and other program objectives," Isaacman said. Lunar ⁠Gateway was designed to serve as both a research platform and a transfer station that astronauts would use to board the moon landers before descending to
Space
Dual-class plan to cement Elon Musk's control
SpaceX is reportedly weighing a share market debut that could redraw the power map of corporate America. The mechanism would issue two types of shares: One carrying standard voting rights, the other carrying “super votes”, typically 10 or 20 votes per share. The effect is simple. Founders can sell economic ownership while retaining control of decisions. CEO Elon Musk has argued publicly that meaningful influence requires around 25% of voting power - not necessarily ownership, but votes. At Tesla, where he holds about 11% of shares, he has floated the idea of a similar structure to safeguard his long-term strategy in artificial intelligence and robotics. The SpaceX proposal mirrors models used by Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc. Supporters of this model suggest such frameworks protect long-term innovation from short-term market pressure. However, critics counter that unequal voting rights weaken accountability because public investors can own most of the stock yet hold limited say. SpaceX is understood to be targeting a listing that could value the business north of US$1.5 trillion and raise as much as $50 billion. If achieved, that would eclipse the 2019 float of Saudi Aramco, which raised $29 billion an