SpaceX plans to catch both Starship and its Super Heavy booster at the launch tower on Flight 15, which could fly as soon as this Friday, pending regulatory approval. The 75-minute launch window opens at 4:45 p.m. CT (5:45 p.m. ET).
The flight follows Flight 14 in September, when Starship reached orbit for the first time and delivered Starlink satellites to the network. SpaceX says that catching both stages would mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system.
The two catches
Mechazilla, the launch tower at Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site, will catch the booster about six and a half minutes after liftoff. The tower closes a pair of mechanical arms, known as chopsticks, around the booster as it slows alongside. It will be the first catch attempt for the third version of Super Heavy, known as V3. SpaceX has caught three first-version boosters on earlier test flights and flown two of them again. On Flight 14, the booster splashed down off Starbase.
The ship’s return might not come until almost a day later. SpaceX said it will only bring the ship back to the launch site if controllers confirm that the systems needed for re-entry, the final landing burn and the approach to the tower are healthy. The flight plan sets out several return checks, starting about an hour and a half after liftoff. At each one, controllers can bring the ship down safely over the ocean.
That approach was tested on Flight 14. One of Ship 41’s six Raptor engines shut down early during the climb to orbit. Controllers held for about 20 minutes before clearing it to continue. Filings made before that launch allowed the mission to end after as few as two orbits. Ship 41 used that option and splashed down north of Hawaii about three hours after liftoff.
Flight 15 is planned to circle Earth about 14 times over more than 22 hours. Flight 14 had been planned for six orbits. As on that flight, the profile lets controllers put the ship on a path that brings it down safely on its own, or end the mission early at set points over the ocean.
Starlink and heat shield
Starship will again carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites, the same load Ship 41 released in September. That was the first time SpaceX had added working satellites to its network from Starship. SpaceX says each V3 satellite will add one terabit of capacity. It also says a full load matches about 10 Falcon 9 launches of the older V2 Mini satellites. The satellites could begin serving customers a few weeks after launch.
Three of the satellites carry cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from orbit, as on Flight 14. The shield keeps the fixes made for that flight. These include extra retention on the tiles most likely to fall off during ascent and closed gaps where plasma, the superheated gas of re-entry, could get behind tiles. The change for Flight 15 is a curved tile design across a large portion of the shield. SpaceX says the design has reduced heating in the gaps between tiles.