Andre Lavoie joined SpaceX in 2009 as an engineer, designing the pressure tanks that help power its rocket.
asserted
that → join → rocket
He was paid partly in stock - a common trade-off at start-ups as a hiring incentive.
asserted
He → pay → incentive
Some 17 years on, those 200,000 shares he was given are worth about $23m (£17m) - and the 63-year-old says he's ready to start cashing them as soon as he can.
asserted
he → give → them
"Every chance I get going forward, I'll sell a little bit more," he tells the BBC.
asserted
he → get → BBC
"The shares have been going up so radically it keeps messing up my life plans - you really can't know the future, so it's better to sell early and in intervals.
asserted
it → go → intervals
Lavoie is far from being the only one who has seen the value of his stake in SpaceX rocket over the years.
asserted
who → see → years
The company's founder, Elon Musk, said on Fox News that SpaceX's listing on the stock market in June had likely made "several thousand" employees millionaires - including staff "who were working on the production line".
asserted
who → say → line
Unlike most newly-listed firms, SpaceX shares are set to be released in stages: the first 20% on 6 August, with more due in batches through the rest of the year.
asserted
more → list → year
Whether or not shareholders decide to sell their stake at the first opportunity is a matter for individuals.
asserted
decide → decide → individuals
Unlike Lavoie, some may choose to hold onto their shares altogether in the hope of bigger gains later.
uncertain
some → choose → gains
SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq in June, in the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history, valuing the rocket and satellite firm at more than $2 trillion.
asserted
SpaceX → list → trillion
It briefly made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire, before the stock cooled and his fortune slipped back below the milestone within weeks.
asserted
fortune → make → weeks
In its first results as a public company this week, the firm's quarterly revenue was shown to have nearly doubled to $7.8bn (£5.8bn) from a year earlier, while its spending ballooned to $18.3bn - more than six times what it was a year ago.
asserted
it → show → 18.3bn
Overall, SpaceX made a net loss of $143m in the three months to June, and a loss of $2bn during the first six months of the year.
asserted
SpaceX → make → year
Musk pushed back against sceptics on an earnings call: "I think people are really underestimating Starlink".
asserted
people → push → Starlink
He predicted the satellite internet service - the one part of the company that is currently making a profit - could one day deliver a majority of the world's internet.
uncertain
that → predict → internet
But shares in the company tumbled on the back of the earnings report, with investors generally spooked by the huge amounts of money being spent on AI.
asserted
investors → tumble → AI
SpaceX shares fell 13.6% on Wednesday to $108.27 (£80.44) - well below the initial listing price of $135 a share.
asserted
shares → fall → 135
Lavoie plans to use his money from selling some of his shares to fund a hotel he is renovating in Pontebba, Italy's northeastern Friuli region, plus a small brewery.
asserted
he → plan → Pontebba
He says his priority for the future is raising awareness of air pollution in the area, in partnership with a local environmental group.
asserted
priority → say → group
Before he was hired, Lavoie was interviewed by Musk himself.
asserted
Lavoie → hire → Musk
"He's a very charming person when he wants something," Lavoie says.
asserted
Lavoie → want → something
He wouldn't be drawn on Musk's politics - "that's his business" - but is unreserved about the company: "I've always been happily supportive and impressed, and would work hard with those incredible people again."
asserted
I → draw → people
Some analysts value SpaceX at less than half its current stock market price, warning its ties to xAI carry real financial risk - part of a broader worry on Wall Street that sky-high valuations for AI-linked firms, including SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, could prove overdone.
uncertain
valuations → value → SpaceX
Sinead O'Sullivan, an economist who has previously worked for Nasa, told the BBC in June she thinks SpaceX is an "Elon Musk ego project".
asserted
SpaceX → work → June
"You're buying a share of the Elon Musk brand more than any kind of space industry," she said.
asserted
she → buy → industry
But Ron Epstein, an aerospace analyst at Bank of America Securities, says the recent share price swings say more about the market than the company.
asserted
swings → say → company
"A lot of it has to do with macro trends," he says.
asserted
he → have → trends
"None of it really has anything to do with what's going on fundamentally at the company."
asserted
what → have → company
He says investors judging SpaceX purely as an AI bet are missing the point: "They're not just a compute provider.
asserted
They → say → point
SpaceX, he adds, has cut the cost of reaching orbit from around $10,000-$20,000 a kilogram to about $2,000 with its Falcon 9 rocket - "they have built a railroad to space."
asserted
they → add → space
Lavoie, for his part, isn't rattled.
asserted
Lavoie → rattle → part
He says: "The solid business model of SpaceX will prove itself to be worth the investment,"even as he takes some of his own winnings off the table.
asserted
he → say → table
The Aporia
