SpaceX will try to catch both halves of Starship for the first time on Flight 15. The 75-minute launch window opens at 4:45 p.m. CT on Friday 13 November 2026 at Starbase, Texas. SpaceX says Starship Flight 15 is pending regulatory approval, and the returning upper stage will cross northern Mexico and south Texas.
When the Launch Window Opens Where You Are
The window runs from 22:45 UTC on Friday 13 November 2026 to 00:00 UTC on Saturday 14 November, a 75-minute slot published on SpaceX’s own mission page.
| Time zone | Window opens | Window closes |
|---|---|---|
| Central Time, Starbase (CST) | 4:45 p.m. Fri 13 Nov | 6:00 p.m. Fri 13 Nov |
| Eastern Time, US (EST) | 5:45 p.m. Fri 13 Nov | 7:00 p.m. Fri 13 Nov |
| UTC / United Kingdom (GMT) | 22:45 Fri 13 Nov | 00:00 Sat 14 Nov |
| Central Europe (CET) | 11:45 p.m. Fri 13 Nov | 1:00 a.m. Sat 14 Nov |
| Gulf Standard Time (GST) | 2:45 a.m. Sat 14 Nov | 4:00 a.m. Sat 14 Nov |
| India (IST) | 4:15 a.m. Sat 14 Nov | 5:30 a.m. Sat 14 Nov |
| Singapore (SGT) | 6:45 a.m. Sat 14 Nov | 8:00 a.m. Sat 14 Nov |
| Japan (JST) | 7:45 a.m. Sat 14 Nov | 9:00 a.m. Sat 14 Nov |
| Eastern Australia (AEDT) | 9:45 a.m. Sat 14 Nov | 11:00 a.m. Sat 14 Nov |
SpaceX warns that “the schedule is dynamic and likely to change”. The company has not committed to a precise liftoff moment inside the window.
What Makes Flight 15 a First
Flight 15 is the first attempt to bring both Starship stages back to the launch site and catch them with the tower arms on the same flight.
Super Heavy Booster 22 is to fly back to Pad 2 at Starbase roughly six and a half minutes after liftoff. Three earlier Super Heavy boosters have been caught, all of them the older V1 design, and two of those were later reflown. Booster 22 is a V3 booster, so this is the first catch attempt for that configuration and the first at Pad 2.
Ship 42, the upper stage, has never been caught. Previous Starships ended their missions by splashing down in the ocean, including on Flight 14 in September, when Starship reached orbit and deployed 26 Starlink satellites before an early return. Catching the upper stage would complete what Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX, described on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on 20 October 2026: “For Flight 15, which we expect to happen next month, we’re going to attempt to catch both the booster and the ship. If we succeed, it will be the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered.” Musk’s words appear in SpaceX’s published transcript of that call.
Why Starship Will Fly Over Northern Mexico and South Texas
To reach the tower at Starbase, Starship has to reenter on a path that crosses inhabited land rather than open water. SpaceX set this out in a mission update published on 7 November 2026.
The deorbit burn is designed to put Starship on course to reenter over the Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometres west of Starbase. From there the vehicle steers with its four control flaps, flying a series of small turns that keep it over sparsely populated parts of northern Mexico and southern Texas.
As it nears Starbase from the west, SpaceX says Starship will weave around the major cities of the Rio Grande Valley, pass to the north of South Padre Island, and head out over the Gulf of Mexico, which SpaceX calls the Gulf of America, before turning south towards the launch site. The company says this banking manoeuvre has already been demonstrated on earlier flights.
SpaceX also points out that flying home over land is not new in spaceflight: it notes that every Space Shuttle mission reentered over land, as do Soyuz and Shenzhou capsules, and as its own Dragon capsules did for Florida landings between 2020 and 2025.
Who May Hear Sonic Booms
People in Cameron County, Texas, and the surrounding area may hear one or more sonic booms as Starship approaches the launch site, according to SpaceX’s 7 November update.
A sonic boom is the brief, thunder-like noise heard on the ground when a vehicle overhead is travelling faster than the speed of sound. SpaceX says the boom “does not present a health risk” and that what people experience will depend on weather and other conditions.
SpaceX has not published a predicted overpressure figure, a map of the boom footprint, or a list of towns likely to hear it.
The Checks That Decide Whether the Catch Happens
A catch is not guaranteed once the rocket lifts off. Starship has to pass several health checks, and SpaceX has pre-cleared ocean areas to abandon the attempt at each stage.
The upper stage first launches onto what SpaceX calls a passively safe suborbital trajectory. If anything goes wrong during ascent, the vehicle comes down in a cleared area of the Indian Ocean instead of reaching orbit. That is why the United States Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to air missions covering a possible Indian Ocean splashdown: it is the ascent fallback, not the planned ending.
Only after flight controllers give a “go” does Starship fire a single sea-level Raptor engine to raise itself into orbit. During the long coast that follows, SpaceX says controllers run manual and automated checks on Raptor engine health, power and communications, the flight computers and navigation sensors, the structural integrity of the propellant tanks and feedlines, the ability to hold tank pressure, and attitude control.
Three windows exist to end the mission early and splash down in the Pacific:
- About 1 hour 28 minutes after liftoff: the early return check, with a splashdown option near Hawaii.
- About 7 hours 16 minutes after liftoff: the mid-mission check, with a splashdown option several hundred kilometres off the coast of Chile.
- About 20 hours 42 minutes after liftoff: the final return check, again near Hawaii.
SpaceX states the condition for a catch plainly: flight controllers will only permit a return to Starbase if the vehicle meets “our internally developed, and FAA-approved, conditions for a return to launch site and catch”. Even after reentry begins, controllers can tumble the vehicle so it breaks up before reaching land, and a late option sends it into the Gulf of Mexico if the vehicle or the tower develops a problem.
Flight 15 Timeline: From Liftoff to Ship Catch
SpaceX has published a full timeline, with all times approximate and measured from liftoff. These are the moments that matter most.
| Time after liftoff | Event |
|---|---|
| 00:00:58 | Max Q, the point of peak aerodynamic stress |
| 00:02:19 | Super Heavy shuts down most engines |
| 00:02:21 | Hot-staging and stage separation |
| 00:06:35 | Super Heavy landing burn shutdown and catch |
| 00:26:10 | Starship orbital insertion burn starts |
| 00:35:01 | Starlink deployment begins |
| 01:17:40 | Starlink deployment complete |
| 21:35:57 | Deorbit burn starts |
| 22:10:46 | Starship reenters the atmosphere |
| 22:32:34 | Starship landing burn shutdown and catch |
If liftoff comes at the start of the window, the booster catch falls at about 22:52 UTC on Friday 13 November and the ship catch at about 21:18 UTC on Saturday 14 November. Both shift with the actual liftoff time.
What Flight 15 Is Carrying
Starship will carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites to low Earth orbit, the same payload count as Flight 14.
SpaceX says each V3 satellite adds one terabit of capacity to the network, and that the 26 together are worth roughly ten Starlink V2 Mini launches on a Falcon 9 rocket. After deployment the satellites unfold antennas, extend solar arrays, make contact over radio and laser links, then raise their own orbits; SpaceX expects them to carry customer traffic within a few weeks of launch.
Three of the 26 have been fitted with cameras to photograph Starship’s heatshield from outside and send the imagery to engineers. SpaceX says that is one of several data sources feeding the decision on whether the vehicle is fit to come home. The heatshield itself carries changes made after Flight 14, including extra retention mechanisms on the tiles most likely to come loose during ascent and a curved tile design intended to cut heating in the gaps between tiles.
Where Approval Stands as of 12 November 2026
As of 12 November 2026, SpaceX’s own mission page still describes Flight 15 as launching “pending regulatory approval”, and no FAA licence covering the flight has been publicly announced.
The picture is split. SpaceX says the conditions for returning Starship to the launch site and catching it are already FAA-approved. What has not been confirmed in public is the licence modification for the flight itself. NASASpaceflight reported on 6 November that the FAA’s Starship page did not yet list a Flight 15 licence, and the agency’s own Starship project page, last updated on 10 November 2026, shows no such listing either.
On the same earnings call, Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said the company had “significant constructive engagement with the FAA” and expected the Flight 15 licence “to include return to launch site and tower catch for both stages”.
Starship schedules have moved for this reason before. Flight 14 slipped repeatedly while its launch date waited on licence and range approvals.
Separately, the FAA is running an environmental review that would allow far more Starship activity at Starbase. A notice of intent published on 14 October 2026 proposes up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year in a first phase, rising to 456 launches a year in a second phase. Public scoping meetings set for 17 and 19 November 2026 have been moved online, and the comment period now closes on 7 December 2026 under docket FAA-2026-12808. That review governs future cadence, not this week’s flight.
How to Watch Starship Flight 15
SpaceX will stream the flight on its own website and on its account on X, starting about 30 minutes before liftoff.
The company says coverage is planned to run through the ship catch, more than 22 hours after launch, with the possibility of long stretches of live video from Starship in orbit, relayed over Starlink. SpaceX has not said whether that orbital coverage will be continuous.
What Is Still Unconfirmed
- The launch licence: no FAA authorisation for Flight 15 has been publicly announced.
- The exact liftoff time: SpaceX has published a 75-minute window, not a target minute.
- The odds: Musk put the chance of catching the ship on the first try at “at least 50 or 60 percent” in September 2026, his own estimate rather than a company figure.
- The sonic boom footprint: SpaceX says booms are possible in and around Cameron County but has not published a map or intensity estimate.
- Propellant transfer testing: reports that docking and hatch hardware will be tested on this flight have not been confirmed by SpaceX.
Frequently Asked Questions
When Is Starship Flight 15 Launching?
SpaceX is targeting Friday 13 November 2026, with a 75-minute window from 22:45 UTC. That is 4:45 p.m. CT at Starbase and 4:15 a.m. IST on Saturday 14 November in India.
Has the FAA Approved Starship Flight 15?
Not publicly, as of 12 November 2026. SpaceX says the conditions for the return and catch are FAA-approved, but it still lists the flight as pending regulatory approval, and no launch licence for Flight 15 has been announced.
Will Starship Fly Over Populated Areas on the Way Back?
Yes. SpaceX says the returning upper stage will cross sparsely populated parts of northern Mexico and southern Texas, steering around the main cities of the Rio Grande Valley before approaching Starbase.
What Happens if the Catch Is Called Off?
Starship has pre-cleared splashdown areas near Hawaii and off Chile during its orbital coast, and a late option to come down in the Gulf of Mexico after reentry. Controllers can also tumble the vehicle so it breaks up before reaching land.
Where Can I Watch Starship Flight 15?
On SpaceX’s website and its X account. The webcast starts roughly 30 minutes before liftoff and is planned to continue through the ship catch the following day.
