SpaceX Starship Flight 15 Aborts Booster Catch But Achieves First Upper Stage Tower Catch
What happened
SpaceX launched Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas, aborting its planned Super Heavy booster tower catch in favor of an offshore splashdown while successfully executing the first orbital return catch of the Ship 42 upper stage.
The Context
* Split test results: Liftoff occurred at 5:47 p.m. ET on November 13, 2026, successfully deploying 26 Starlink satellites before a guidance or propellant anomaly diverted the booster into the Gulf of Mexico. * Milestone recovery: On November 14, following multiple orbital revolutions, the Ship 42 upper stage completed a controlled atmospheric descent and was secured by the launch tower's mechanical arms. * Iterative program targets: The flight aimed for the first simultaneous recovery of both vehicle stages, a milestone key to lowering per-kilogram launch costs for private operators and NASA's Artemis lunar program.
The Number
— the number of successful Super Heavy booster tower catches SpaceX completed prior to Flight 15, confirming the team chose an offshore abort over risking tower infrastructure while perfecting upper-stage capture.
Takeaway
Expect SpaceX to isolate the booster's guidance variance quickly while commercial payload planners begin factoring operational upper-stage reuse into next-generation launch cadence forecasts.
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