SpaceX will launch epic double-catch Starship Flight 15 test mission on Nov. 13
"Starship’s initial return to launch site mission is expected to orbit the Earth at an altitude of ~275 km [171 miles] and complete approximately 14 orbits around the planet over the course of a more than 22-hour flight," SpaceX wrote in its description of Flight 15.
Key points
- Composite photo showing the Super Heavy booster of SpaceX's Starship megarocket coming in for a landing on the launch mount during the vehicle's fifth-ever test flight, on Oct.
- "Similar to Starship’s first orbital mission, the flight profile has been designed with the opportunity to insert into a passively safe suborbital trajectory or safely deorbit at multiple pre-determined areas over the ocean after raising to an orbital altitude," the company added.
- SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk already told us that Flight 15 would likely feature a double-catch attempt.
"The upcoming flight is planned to be the first to return both Starship and Super Heavy to the launch site for catch," SpaceX wrote in a description of Flight 15.
Additional details
- So there's no guarantee that Ship will indeed come back to Starbase for a catch on Flight 15; SpaceX will call off the try if anything is amiss.
- "Catch" refers to SpaceX's recovery mechanism for both stages: Each will return to the launch mount at SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas and be plucked out of the sky by the tower's "chopstick" arms.
- (Image credit: SpaceX via X) But Ship should stay aloft for much longer on Flight 15 than it did on Flight 14, which ended with a splashdown in the northern Pacific Ocean about three hours after liftoff.
- 13) for the 15th test flight of its Starship megarocket, which will attempt something that's never been done before.
- But the newly released mission description gives us a launch date, as well as details about the flight.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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