SpaceX Starship’s 15th Test Flight to Attempt Dual-Stage Catch, Targeting First Fully Reusable Orbital Rocket

SpaceX plans to launch Starship’s 15th test flight from Starbase in Cameron County, Texas, at 5:45 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Friday, weather and vehicle conditions permitting, with an attempt to catch both stages at the launch tower. According to Sina Finance, the launch window will last 75 minutes, and the Super Heavy booster is expected to return about six minutes after liftoff for a catch attempt by the tower’s mechanical arms; this will be the latest booster version’s first such attempt. SpaceX has caught three earlier-generation boosters. Starship is scheduled to deploy 26 V3 Starlink satellites and fly for more than 22 hours, making about 14 orbits of Earth. SpaceX says the flight plan includes opportunities to deorbit over the ocean early if problems arise. If conditions allow, the company will attempt to catch the upper stage at the launch tower at around 4:15 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Saturday, after Starship performs its deorbit burn. If both stages are caught, Starship would become the first fully recovered orbital-class rocket. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said at the 2025 X Takeover that rockets were once discarded after launch, unlike aircraft or cars. Casey Dreier, the Planetary Society’s director of space policy, said fuel is a relatively inexpensive part of a launch and that reuse, particularly rapid reuse with minimal refurbishment, can substantially reduce launch costs and increase payload capacity. He called catching Starship a major validation and a key step toward rapid reuse. Dreier said the heat shield is the biggest obstacle to rapid reuse because the tiles must be inspected and repaired quickly after the vehicle returns through the atmosphere. Musk has also acknowledged the challenge of developing a heat-protection system for rapid reuse. Austin Spiegel, a former SpaceX engineer and CEO of Sift, which provides rocket makers with test-data collection and analysis services, compared the difficulty of rocket reuse to landing a toothpick upright in a hurricane. Dreier said SpaceX should not be underestimated on engineering challenges.