The company has never attempted to catch the upper Ship stage before.
SpaceX is aiming to launch Starship’s Flight 15 mission on November 13. It’s still pending regulatory approval, but if it gets the go-ahead and the weather is favorable, the super heavy-lift vehicle’s 75-minute launch window will open at 5:45PM Eastern time that day. Flight 15 won’t be like any of the vehicle’s previous test flights. SpaceX will attempt to retrieve the full orbital launch system, both the Super Heavy booster and the Ship upper stage, for the first time.
The company had returned and caught Starship’s Super Heavy booster thrice in the past. It has never attempted to catch Ship, though, because it travels much higher and faster than the booster, making it more difficult to catch.
Starship achieved its first orbital flight during the vehicle’s 14th test mission. However, SpaceX had to cut the trip short, and Ship only spent around two hours in orbit instead of the 10 hours the company had planned. This time, SpaceX will try to get Ship to orbit our planet around 14 times in a flight that’s expected to last more than 22 hours before the vehicle deorbits. The stage will also deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites as part of its primary objectives.
In the company’s latest earnings call, Elon Musk showed a short video, demonstrating how SpaceX intends to catch both the Super Heavy and Ship stages. It will use its launch tower’s “chopstick arms” to catch Super Heavy like it did in the past, just a few minutes after launch. Then a day later, it will use the same arms to catch the Ship stage. SpaceX will only attempt to capture it if it’s able to deorbit at any of several pre-determined areas and if conditions are optimal. That means we may or may not see the company catch Ship for the first time in a few days.
If it does succeed in catching both stages, it would be a huge step forward into achieving full reusability, which has been the company’s goal for the Starship from the start. You can watch the full event, including the Ship catch if it happens, on SpaceX’s account on X.
Starship is preparing for catch
Flight 15 is targeting to launch as early as Friday, November 13, pending regulatory approval → https://t.co/K5XRci6bnw pic.twitter.com/WS2xGLjVsx
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 7, 2026
