SpaceX targets Nov. 13 for Starship Flight 15 and its first ship catch

SpaceX is targeting Friday, Nov. 13, for Starship Flight 15, the test flight on which the company plans its first attempt to catch the Starship upper stage with the launch tower at Starbase, Texas.

The date came from Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's vice president of launch, who gave it on stage at the UP.Summit on Thursday (Nov. 5), Ars Technica's Eric Berger reported on X. Until then, the public schedule rested on FAA air-traffic planning slides that listed the flight no earlier than Nov. 8 and later Nov. 12, according to Teslarati.

Much is still unconfirmed. Berger's post gave no launch time and did not say whether Dontchev confirmed the catch plan, Tesla North noted. As of Saturday morning, SpaceX's launches page listed two Falcon 9 missions as upcoming and no Starship flight.

The catch plan itself comes from Elon Musk. "For Flight 15, which we expect to happen next month, we're going to attempt to catch both the booster and the ship," Musk said on SpaceX's third-quarter earnings webcast on Oct. 20. "If we succeed, it will be the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered."

He also hedged. "Success is not guaranteed on these first flights, but I'd say it's more likely than not that this succeeds next flight," Musk said. SpaceX then played a simulation that ended with the ship descending to the tower and being caught by its arms.

The remaining hurdle is the FAA. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on the same call that the company expects the Flight 15 license "to include return to launch site and tower catch for both stages," per Tesla North. Teslarati reported Thursday that the FAA's Starship page did not yet list a Flight 15 license.

The agency has done some of the groundwork. Its Starship project page lists completed environmental assessments covering Starship return-to-launch-site profiles at Starbase and temporary airspace closures for an added reentry path back to the site.

SpaceX has caught the Super Heavy booster three times, on Flights 5, 7 and 8. The first came on Oct. 13, 2024, when the tower's two "chopstick" arms closed around a returning booster.

The ship is a different problem. It returns from orbital velocity rather than a few minutes after liftoff, and no Starship upper stage has been caught. Bringing it home also means a reentry path that heads toward land rather than ending over open ocean, as every Starship flight so far has, Teslarati noted.

The Flight 15 hardware has cleared its ground tests. SpaceX said on Oct. 28 that Ship 42 completed "a full duration, six-engine static fire" and fired a single Raptor engine to simulate a deorbit burn. Booster 22 fired all 33 Raptor engines at Pad 2 on Oct. 25, according to NASASpaceflight as cited by Teslarati.

Ship 42 also rehearsed with the tower arms in September, when the Pad 2 arms lifted it into position, Teslarati reported.

Flight 14 on Sept. 28 was the first Starship to reach orbit. It deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites before splashing down, despite an early engine shutdown that Musk blamed on engine computer software.

If the catch works, Musk has said the next step is a Flight 16 on which both the booster and the ship fly again. NASASpaceflight reports that Ship 43, the next ship in line, is due for static-fire testing in December.

Follow EngineerPal for coverage of Starship Flight 15, targeted for Nov. 13.