SpaceX to attempt first Starship spacecraft recovery on land in 15th flight
SpaceX aims to recover both stages after a 22-hour mission that will deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites, the company said.
- On Friday, November 13, 2026, SpaceX launched Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas, attempting the first-ever dual-stage recovery of both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage using the Mechazilla launch tower's mechanical arms.
- Following three successful Super Heavy booster catches, this mission marks the first attempt to recover the Starship upper stage, a critical test for SpaceX's goal of developing a fully reusable launch system to lower flight costs.
- The 22-hour mission includes Starship orbiting Earth 14 times while deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX engineers monitored vehicle health throughout to ensure safe reentry and tower catch execution.
- SpaceX VP of Launch Kiko Dontchev emphasized that recovering both stages is essential for operational reusability and validates infrastructure for the company's target of roughly 10,000 Starship launches annually by 2030.
- Starship is central to NASA's Artemis III lunar lander mission in 2027, with Artemis IV slated to return humans to the lunar surface as soon as 2028. Full reusability remains key to founder Elon Musk's goal of multiplanetary colonization.
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During the 15th test flight of the Starship space system, SpaceX failed to capture the Super Heavy accelerator. The launch was made from the Star Base Space Launch Center in South Texas. The company expected to return both stages to base for the first time, but from the original
The Starship rocket from SpaceX encountered an accelerator malfunction a few minutes after launch.
SpaceX had huge plans for the launch of Starship 15 this weekend. The space company was set to pluck the largest spaceship ever built out of the sky a day after launch, for the first time in history. It remains uncertain whether that will succeed following problems during the launch.
The upper stage is still orbiting Earth and will attempt to land this evening if all systems are functioning properly.
SpaceX has completed the 15th test launch of its Starship rocket and is preparing for the first return of its first stage to the launch site in less than 24 hours.
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