SpaceX Accelerates Employee IPO Vesting; IFT-12 Vehicles Clear for Stacking After Dual Static Fires

On April 16-17, 2026, SpaceX made two significant announcements: the company moved up employee stock option vesting from May to April ahead of its anticipated June 2026 Nasdaq IPO, according to Bloomberg. The accelerated vesting — affecting thousands of SpaceX employees across Starlink, Starship, and Falcon operations — was framed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the largest planned IPO in US history, targeting a ~$75 billion raise at ~$1.75 trillion valuation. Separately, Space.com published detailed coverage on April 17 of the successful dual static fire campaign completed in the prior 48 hours: Ship 39's 6-engine Raptor 3 static fire on April 15 and Booster 19's historic 33-engine full-duration static fire on April 16. Elon Musk publicly confirmed via X that both Starship Flight 12 vehicles are 'ready for their first test flight in a few weeks,' reaffirming May 2026 as the target for Integrated Flight Test 12 — the debut of the V3 architecture. With both vehicles having cleared static fires, the next steps are: Vehicle Integration (stacking Booster 19 and Ship 39 at Pad 2), a full integrated rollout and wet dress rehearsal, and then IFT-12 launch. The parallel developments — IPO acceleration and IFT-12 readiness — reflect SpaceX's extraordinary operational tempo as the company transitions from a startup to what would be one of the world's most valuable publicly-traded corporations.