SpaceX to attempt first Starship spacecraft recovery on land in 15th flight
- 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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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.
Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX, was preparing on Friday for a mission launch in which the company will try to get the two parts of the Starship rocket, the propellant and the spacecraft back to launch base for reuse.
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SpaceX sends its giant rocket Starship to a new test flight into space. Actually, this time both stages of the rocket are to be picked up again on Earth. However, this does not work for the first one.
SpaceX suffered a setback on Friday during a test flight of its Starship rocket. Elon Musk's space company failed...
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