At that point, when a fourth failure would have ended things, the company had virtually no money.

The claim is about SpaceX's finances around its fourth Falcon 1 launch attempt (September 2008), when a further failure was said to mean the end of the company. True: credible contemporaneous or historical accounts (company financial records, investor accounts, well-sourced biographies or reporting) show SpaceX's cash was nearly exhausted at that point, enough for roughly one more launch at most, with no meaningful reserves beyond it. Mostly true: the company was clearly near the end of its cash, but the evidence shows somewhat more runway than 'virtually no money' implies, such as a few months of operations or committed funds still to arrive. Mixed: accounts conflict, or funds were tight but the company had substantial secured resources, such as contract payments in hand. Mostly false: SpaceX had financial difficulties, but the evidence shows reserves or committed financing well beyond what 'virtually no money' implies. False: the evidence shows SpaceX had substantial cash or secured funding at that time and was not near running out.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Inside the eight desperate weeks that saved SpaceX from ruin Ars Technica · 21 September 2018

   “Less than two months after the last failure, the money was running out. SpaceX had just one final rocket to launch, with only some spare components left over in its California factory.”

2. E2 Keeping SpaceX Alive — The Book of Elon Musk The Book of Elon Musk (elonmuskbook.org) · 31 March 2026 Own record

   “If the fourth launch hadn’t worked, that would have been curtains. I had no money left. It was a pretty close thing.”

3. E3 Ch 60: Chapter 30: The Fourth Launch: Kwaj, August–September 2008 — Elon Musk · Afterword Afterword · 12 October 2026

   “Musk arrived amid severe financial strain—Tesla was also facing crisis, and SpaceX's funding had dried up.”

E1 is independent reporting from Ars Technica. It says that before the fourth Falcon 1 attempt, "the money was running out" and SpaceX "had just one final rocket to launch." E3, a chapter page on a Musk biography, says SpaceX's funding "had dried up" at that point, which adds some support [E3]. E2 is Musk's own account and is not independent. None of the evidence shows SpaceX had reserves or secured funding beyond that last launch, so the claim that it had virtually no money is resolved true.