SpaceX Catches a Starship Upper Stage for the First Time as Nvidia and Anthropic Face a Pivotal Week

November 15, 2026 · Category: Business & Tech

SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) recorded a first in reusable rocketry on Saturday. On the 15th Starship test flight, the tower's mechanical "chopstick" arms at Starbase in Texas caught the rocket's upper stage, known as Ship, as it returned from orbit, the BBC reported. It was the first time the company had captured that detachable section. Spokesman Dan Huot called it the "Holy Grail of space flight" and said, "now everything changes," according to AFP quotes cited by the BBC.

The mission fell short of a full recovery. SpaceX had hoped to catch both stages, but the Super Heavy booster aborted its tower catch shortly after Friday's launch and exploded just above the Gulf of Mexico, Space.com reported. SpaceX's Kate Tice said early indications point to a low fuel mass alarm that ended the booster's return burn early, and the root cause is still under investigation. Catching and reusing the upper stage is central to the company's goal of cutting launch costs, which is why Saturday's result matters beyond the test itself.

AI companies face their own tests next week. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) reports third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, with a call at 2 p.m. PT. It will be the company's first report since founder Jensen Huang resigned and finance chief Colette Kress became interim chief executive, Invezz reported. Nvidia guided revenue of $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, and LSEG consensus is about $109.2 billion. The quarter ended Oct. 25, before the leadership change, so the reported numbers will reflect the business before Huang left. Analysts are focused on whether the fourth-quarter outlook and Kress's August comments about growth picking up again as the Vera Rubin platform ramps still hold.

One day later, Anthropic is scheduled to price its initial public offering, and its shares are set to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT on Thursday, Nov. 19, Yahoo Finance reported. The company plans to sell 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each, which would value it at $1.3 trillion to $1.45 trillion. That is below earlier talk of up to $2 trillion, after a turbulent stretch for AI stocks. Anthropic reported $33.2 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the year and $895.4 billion in total committed spending, mostly on compute and infrastructure.

Live ticker

Tickers: NASDAQ:SPCX, NASDAQ:NVDA

Why it matters

This week the market gets concrete answers to questions it has been pricing for months: whether Nvidia's outlook holds without its founder, how much investors will pay for a large standalone AI company, and how quickly SpaceX's reusable rocket program is progressing. All figures are reported facts, not investment advice or price predictions.

Sources

← Back to News