The day has come.

After years of watching SpaceX from the outside, ordinary investors may finally see Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and space infrastructure company arrive on the public market. Reports suggest a possible Nasdaq listing under the ticker SPCX, with one of the largest IPOs ever attempted and a valuation that could place SpaceX among the most valuable companies on Earth.

But this third and final episode in our SpaceX IPO trilogy is not another bull case or bear case. Episode 1 looked at why SpaceX may deserve a historic valuation. Episode 2 asked whether public investors may already be buying too late. Episode 3 follows the release itself, as if watching a market documentary unfold in real time.

This is the launch day story for retail investors.

We look at the days before and after the IPO: the allocation batt ...