The Economist.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition.
By now, the sight of SpaceX rockets blasting off has become a familiar one.
And so have the images of them bursting into flames.
That's why there was a lot riding on a particular Starship launch on Friday.
SpaceX had just revealed its strategy for the largest public offering in history.
The pure size of that offering depends on the company's ability
to get Starship into space and back again in one piece.
Fortunately, that's all the fire is exactly what we wanted to see for the ship today,
as weird as it may sound to hear, but it is the truth.
As with a lot of Elon Musk's bets, beginning the countdown to SpaceX's IPO with that launch was risky.
This time, it paid off.
Is that a sign of what's to come when the company finally goes public?
You're listening to Money Talks from The Economist,
our weekly podcast on the markets, the economy, and the world of business.
In New York, I'm Mike Bird.
In Washington, D.C., I'm Alice Fulwood.
And in today's show, the world's biggest public offering.
Alice, hello.
Hey, Mike.