SpaceX's stock market blast-off could be Musk's biggest gamble yet

SpaceX's stock market blast-off could be Musk's biggest gamble yet 38 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Simon Jack Business editor BBC It's 07:25 am, 13 October 2024, at Starbase, near Boca Chica on the Texas side of the US/Mexico border, and on the launch pad stands the biggest rocket ever made. Its engines fire and it climbs into the skies over the Gulf of Mexico to cheers and screams in the SpaceX control room. But the launch is not the main event. What goes up must come down – and how it comes down will become a milestone in space exploration. Seven minutes later, the massive rocket booster that blasted the craft towards space starts falling back to Earth – until its engines reignite as planned. It slows its descent and guides itself with pinpoint precision so it can be captured by a clasp called Mechazilla, or "the chopsticks", by engineers who have achieved something that's never been done before. Amid the whoops and high-fives in SpaceX's control room, Elon Musk tells his millions of social media followers that this is a "big step towards making life multiplanetary" - a reusable rocket that will slash the costs of launching things into orbit, to the Moon and one day to Mars. A company with a futuristic vision, led by what some would call a maverick unconventional genius, SpaceX and Musk have drawn comparisons with Tony Stark, leader of Stark Industries and also known as Iron Man of the Marvel Comics Universe. Anadolu via Getty Images The launch of Starship in October 2024 marked another milestone in Elon Musk's ambitions for deep-space exploration On 12 June, trading will begin in a chunk of shares in a company that, up to now, only Musk and a select group of rich private institutions have been able or invited to own. It is perhaps little wonder that more than one UK stockbroker has told the BBC that there has been "a surge" in interest in signing up for the chance to buy shares in this exciting company, controlled by a talismanic individual, that has captured the world's imagination. UK retail investors are likely to be allocated around £1.5bn worth of shares and one of the UK's leading investing platforms hopes this could encourage a new generation of investors. Simon Belsham, Chief Client Officer at Hargreaves Lansdown said: "While we recognise this IPO might not be right for everyone, it's an exciting moment for many of our clients. We're expecting this might be a first foray into investing for many." Even if you don't apply directly to buy shares, if you have retirement savings invested in shares - as almost everyone with a pension plan does - then it is very likely you will soon be a part-owner of a company, whether you like it or not, that sits at the crossroads between technology and geopolitics and, as Musk would have it, the very future of the human race. The chance for normal Earthlings to buy shares in SpaceX is one of the most important moments in the history of stock markets and is close at hand – and one that