Starship Flight 15, a dual catch attempt, awaits FAA green light

4 min read · reported by NASASpaceflight

Booster 22 and Ship 42 are in final checkouts for a no-earlier-than 13 November launch that would attempt to catch both stages at Starbase Pad 2. The date has slipped by only one day, with the ship-catch licence from the FAA still the deciding factor.

SpaceX has pushed Booster 22 and Ship 42 through their full-duration static fires and rolled Booster 22 back to Mega Bay 1 and Ship 42 to Mega Bay 2, putting Starship Flight 15 firmly into its final pre-launch processing flow.

A new CADENA high-profile missions slide lists a no-earlier-than (NET) date of 13 November, only one day later than the previous slide.

Regulatory steps, above all the ship-catch case, could still move that target to the right, although the signs are that SpaceX is hopeful of this mid-November target.

Starship Flight 15 has been delayed by 1 day to NET November 13 per a new CADENA presentation https://t.co/1x1TpXDFoa pic.twitter.com/gBTzN41NmS

— SpaceNotices (@SpaceNotices) November 5, 2026

Flight 15 hardware closes out

Both stages completed their static-fire campaigns in close succession, with Booster 22 firing up on Pad 2 on 25 October and Ship 42 at Massey’s on 26 and 27 October, before returning to the production site for final inspections and checkouts.

For Ship 42, the next steps are installation of Flight Termination System (FTS) charges and loading of a batch of Starlink satellites.

While the only documented launch target comes from an air-traffic planning indicator, rather than a SpaceX launch announcement, vehicle readiness looks strong.

The open question is whether the FAA paperwork for catching Ship 42 will keep pace.

Dual catch, one licence gap

Elon Musk has confirmed SpaceX will try to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Ship on Flight 15. No Ship has yet been caught, and it would also be the first Block 3 booster catch and the first catch at Pad 2.

The licence order for Flight 14 and Ship 41 covered that flight alone.

SpaceX now needs FAA approval of a licence modification for Flight 15, including permission to bring Ship 42 back to the tower at Starbase, which will involve an overflight of populated areas during the return. Until that is in hand, the dual-catch profile cannot fly as planned.

The long orbital flight

NSF understands the working plan is a mission of roughly 24 hours, giving Ship 42’s orbit time to realign with the targeted re-entry corridor back to Starbase and Pad 2.

Controllers would keep built-in early-return points if they are not confident the vehicle can safely deorbit at the end of the profile.

That is the same conservative approach that brought Ship 41 home after payload deploy on Flight 14, rather than completing its planned coast of about eight hours. If Ship 42 flies the full day-long profile, it would complete about 15 to 16 orbits. That would make it by far the longest Starship mission yet, as Flight 14 lasted just over three hours.

That stretch would deliver critical data on propellant boil-off rates and how well Starship performs for a prolonged period in space.

Those numbers matter for the ship-to-ship propellant-transfer demonstration , which NASA’s latest Starship milestone chart places in the first quarter of 2027, and for every tanker, depot and Human Landing System flight that follows.

Flight 16 turns towards Florida

While Flight 15 nears launch, the Flight 16 pairing is already moving.

Booster 23 returned to Mega Bay 1 on 30 October after more than two days at Massey’s, possibly for an ambient-pressure test on top of its earlier cryogenic work. Ship 43 has finished cryogenic proof and catch-related testing and is now receiving engines ahead of a static fire expected in December.

SpaceX is lining that stack up for the first Starship launch from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Booster 23 is expected to static-fire on the Florida pad as part of activating the site. Ships, for now, are still static-fired only at Massey’s until the proposed Project Ignition test stands near Roberts Road come online.

With Ship 43’s static fire not due until mid-December, that debut now looks more likely early in 2027 than before year-end.

The FAA is expected to add LC-39A to SpaceX’s existing Starship licence, VOL 23-129. Timelines will move with Flight 15’s outcome.

See NSF’s Flight 15/16 milestones and Roberts Road expansion coverage for more on the Florida build-out. Next ships and boosters in the queue

Inside Mega Bay 2, Ship 44 and Ship 45 are advancing as SpaceX juggles workstation space. Post-flight, a successfully caught Ship 42 would be a far richer data source than Ship 40, which spent more than a month at sea after its ocean splashdown. Selected Ship 42 Raptors could also head for post-flight stand testing.

On the booster line, Booster 24 is fully stacked, and stacking of Booster 25 got underway around 2 November. That is another sign that Block 3 production is starting to reach a healthy cadence.

For now, it all depends on one item: the licence change that lets Ship 42 come home to the tower.

(Featured Image: Ceaser G for NSF)

Reported by NASASpaceflight. Reproduced unedited by Everything Space. View the original →