SpaceX flies from Waco to Newark on the eve of its record-breaking IPO

SpaceX's 2002 Boeing 737-800, tail number N154TS, departed Waco Regional Airport on Thursday afternoon and landed at Newark Liberty International Airport three hours later. The flight, which reached an altitude of 41,025 feet and a top ground speed of 505.6 knots, is an unusual routing for the aircraft — its typical week involves three round trips between Los Angeles and Brownsville, Texas. Waco sits near SpaceX's McGregor test facility, suggesting personnel were collected from Texas operations en route to the New York area.

The trip lands in Newark the same week SpaceX is set to make its public debut on Wall Street. According to ABC News, the company will begin trading Friday under the ticker SPCX on the Nasdaq, with an expected offering of 555.6 million shares at $135 apiece — a valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion that would make it the largest IPO in history, eclipsing Saudi Aramco's 2019 listing. The flight's timing, arriving the afternoon before the opening bell, strongly implies a shuttle for executives or support staff heading to the city for the event.

The IPO comes amid an aggressive expansion push. As detailed by KBTX, SpaceX this week unveiled plans for orbital AI data centers and a massive chip fabrication facility in Grimes County, Texas, called Terafab. The company's prospectus warns that the loss of Elon Musk could disrupt strategy, but for now, the team is busy flying between test sites and the financial capital — moving people, not rockets, ahead of the big day.