SpaceX targets its 15th Starship test flight from its Starbase site in South Texas during a 75-minute window opening at 5:45 p.m. EST on Friday.
The company plans to recover both the Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage spacecraft using the launch tower’s mechanical “chopstick” arms, a maneuver never before attempted for an entire orbital launch system. Super Heavy is scheduled to return for a touchdown approximately 6.5 minutes after liftoff, matching previous booster recoveries achieved on three earlier flights.
Following about 14 orbits over roughly 22 hours, the upper stage will attempt its own return to Starbase for a catch by the tower arms on Saturday afternoon, according to Space and Astronomy Magazine.
“If successful, this will mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system and a breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket,” SpaceX said in its Flight 15 mission description.
Starship is preparing for catch Flight 15 is targeting to launch as early as Friday, November 13, pending regulatory approval → https://t.co/K5XRci6bnw pic.twitter.com/WS2xGLjVsx
According to Elon Musk during a Q3 earnings call, the mission was characterized as “more likely than not” to succeed.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas reiterated an Overweight rating and $300 price target, calling a successful catch one of the most significant potential catalysts in SpaceX’s nearly 25-year history, while Bloomberg reported that a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla is under discussion, with an announcement possible as early as December or in early 2027, prompting Texas Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson to pledge close scrutiny of the potential merger.
Flight controllers will only bring the ship home if it passes a set of FAA-approved health checks, as noted by USA Today. If anything looks wrong, they can ditch the ship in the ocean instead, steering Ship to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, either near Hawaii or off the coast of Chile.
“We get risks from the launch pad. We get risks from the tower and the catch arms,” said Shana Diez, director of Starship engineering, in a company video. “But the goal is always to take the risk in the place where you can learn the most, and that’s the calculus that we’re doing every day.”
SpaceX will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and Starship on the upcoming flight. If both are successful, it will mark the first time that all parts of an orbital rocket return to Earth intact. This is the critical breakthrough needed to make life multiplanetary. https://t.co/BIxkhd5bkR
Casey Dreier explained to reporters that reusability requires turning launches around within a day or two, noting that “this is a massive rocket, and so to be able to catch it is a huge point of demonstration and a critical step along their goal of reusability and rapid reusability, which is in a sense key to all of their future plans.”
“I think the lesson has been to not bet against SpaceX, particularly on these engineering issues. If any company can do it, it will be this company,” Dreier added.
Weather for Starship Flight 15 on Friday looks good: Sunny, light winds, temperatures in the upper 70s, relatively low humidity. I don't know the constraints on return weather Saturday, but only differences are a few more clouds and slightly stronger winds, gusting 15 to 20 mph.
More on Starship
Ship 42 moves to the Starbase pad ahead of launch pic.twitter.com/pMUFTHneJQ