SpaceX plans to attempt returning both Starship and Super Heavy to the launch site for catch on Flight 15, targeting November 13 from Starbase, Texas.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13, for the 15th test flight of its Starship megarocket, which would attempt to return both Starship and Super Heavy to the launch site for catch.
The launch is scheduled from Starbase in South Texas during a 75-minute window that opens at 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT; 4:45 p.m. local Texas time). SpaceX described the flight as the first planned to return both Starship and Super Heavy to the launch site for catch, which the company says would mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system and a breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket.
Super Heavy is expected to return to Starbase for its tower catch about 6.5 minutes after liftoff. Starship, the upper stage, will go orbital and deploy 26 of SpaceX's next-gen Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX states that Starship's initial return to launch site mission is expected to orbit the Earth at an altitude of ~275 km [171 miles] and complete approximately 14 orbits around the planet over the course of a more than 22-hour flight.
SpaceX will call off the catch attempt if anything is amiss. The flight profile includes the opportunity to insert into a passively safe suborbital trajectory or safely deorbit at multiple pre-determined areas over the ocean after raising to an orbital altitude.
A successful double catch would be the first full recovery of an orbital launch system. SpaceX has caught Super Heavy on three Starship flights to date but has never tried the maneuver with Ship, which flies higher and farther than Super Heavy, making its return to Earth more complex and energetic.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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