SpaceX Rises 5% as Starship’s First Orbital Attempt Gets Launch Date; Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile Hold Steady

David Moadel

Wed, September 16, 2026 at 5:36 PM GMT+3 5 min read

Quick Read

SpaceX surges 4% after Barron's confirmed a September 22 Starship launch targeting stable Earth orbit for the first time.
Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile held near flat, confirming the rally is SpaceX-specific rather than a broad sector move.
Cathie Wood projects Starship could generate $10 trillion in annual revenue by decade's end, calling SpaceX's $1.75 trillion valuation a bargain.
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SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) stock is climbing Wednesday morning on news of a firm launch date for Starship's next test flight. Barron's reported the company plans to fly Starship again on September 22, and the mission is set up as the first attempt to place the vehicle's upper stage into stable Earth orbit.

The Procure Space ETF (NASDAQ:UFO) is up 0.8% at $43.21. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.3% at $759.99. The space fund and the broad market are both barely higher, so SpaceX is moving on its own news rather than on a sector bid.

SpaceX stock is at $151.12, up 5%, though it remains down 7% since it began trading in June. Checking in on the peers, Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) stock is at $63.75, up 0.3%. AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) stock is at $59.27, up 0.85%.

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Launch Date Fuels the Rally

Barron's reported that SpaceX plans to test Starship again on September 22, and this would be the first flight in which Starship's upper stage reaches stable Earth orbit. That step separates a test program from a vehicle capable of carrying paying payloads.

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SpaceX is moving on a date rather than on a result. Starship has flown twice since SpaceX began trading, and both attempts stayed suborbital. Reaching stable Earth orbit is the threshold at which the vehicle can begin generating revenue flights instead of ferrying test articles.

Wood's $10 Trillion Bull Case

Separately, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood projected that Starship could generate $10 trillion in annual revenue by the end of the decade, and on that basis called SpaceX's $1.75 trillion listing a bargain. Her projection builds up from Starlink connectivity revenue per unit of launched network capacity rather than from launch fees.

The projection carries two large assumptions. It presumes essentially every flight carries Starlink capacity, and it rests on an annual flight rate far above anything Starship has achieved. For scale, that revenue figure would exceed the yearly output of every national economy except the United States and China.

Wednesday's move in SpaceX shares tracks the launch date more than the forecast, since the bull case rests on a cadence the vehicle hasn't yet demonstrated. The near-term question for SpaceX is whether Starship can reach a stable orbit, not whether it can eventually match the flight rate that supports Wood's number.

Peers Sit Out the Move

Rocket Lab shares are essentially flat on the session while SpaceX stock rallies. That's a repricing of one name and shouldn't be interpreted as a sector-wide vote of confidence.

AST SpaceMobile shares are also close to flat, and the Procure Space ETF is only fractionally higher. Money isn't chasing broad space exposure on the Starship headline, which keeps the day's story tied specifically to SpaceX.

What to Watch

The September 22 attempt is the next real information point for SpaceX. A clean run to a stable orbit clears the way for revenue-carrying payload flights, while another suborbital outcome would keep the commercial timeline open-ended.

Investors weighing their exposure to SpaceX stock can watch for whether the flight delivers on that orbit objective, since the bull case supporting SpaceX's current valuation depends on cadence the vehicle hasn't yet proven. Conservative position sizing makes sense with the flight record still short, and adding on evidence rather than on projections keeps their risk contained.

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