{"id":726323,"date":"2026-08-03T16:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/726323\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:55:12","slug":"spacex-investors-urge-company-to-paint-its-rockets-pink-and-rename-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/726323\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX investors urge company to paint its rockets pink and rename them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/spacex\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SpaceX<\/a> has received a host of requests from its investors, including requests to paint its rockets pink and rename its spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, SpaceX will host its first ever earning call, since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/elon-musk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s private space and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/ai\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI<\/a> company went public earlier this year. Those earnings are likely to be a significant point for the company, especially given that it launched at a high valuation that has since fallen by around 30 per cent, seemingly amid concerns that Mr Musk may not deliver on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/tech\/elon-musk-million-people-mars-spacex-ipo-b2989374.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his dramatic promises<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of those results, and similar to many other publicly-traded companies, SpaceX has offered its shareholders the opportunity to ask questions to its executives during its earnings call. But, in keeping with SpaceX\u2019s unusual shareholder base \u2013 which includes many members of the public who appear to have invested as a result of being fans of Mr Musk \u2013\u00a0those questions are particularly unusual.<\/p>\n<p>All of the questions are being submitted through <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/questiontime.ir.spacex.com\/e\/spacex-q2-2026-earnings-q-a\">a public platform on SpaceX\u2019s website<\/a>. Once a question is sent, other users can see it \u2013\u00a0and then choose to vote for it, in the hope of increasing the likelihood that it is asked.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, the second-highest ranked of those questions is one asking whether the company would allow the public to rename its spacecraft. It references <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/man-who-suggested-boaty-mcboatface-for-the-name-of-ps200m-research-vessel-has-apologised-profusely-a6944036.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the furore that resulted after a public vote to name a research vessel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceX has some legendary vehicle names,\u201d the question reads. Would you ever allow the public to name a Starship, even knowing there is a 99% chance it becomes Shipy McShipface?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Others ask that the rockets change colour, as well as names. \u201cCan we paint the rocket pink?\u201d one of the most popular questions asks.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the questions also focused on Asteroid, SpaceX\u2019s mascot. That is a Shiba Inu that the company is set to start selling soft toys depicting, in September.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-03-at-16-10-07.png\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>(SpaceX)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you share what&#8217;s next for Asteroid?\u201d one highly rated, representative question asked. \u201cAre there any plans to expand its role beyond the plushies, or will we see it become a bigger part of future SpaceX missions, events, or outreach?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Others asked if the mascot would be sent to Mars, or if SpaceX would start a foundation \u2013\u00a0perhaps promoting space and science education outreach \u2013\u00a0in its name.<\/p>\n<p>Others asked more specific questions about SpaceX\u2019s engineering work. They included requests for more footage or information on the Human Lander System that is set to take the first humans back to the surface of Mars, as well as about the future of the Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-726323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}