Overview
- The Starship 15th test flight lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase on Friday, November 13, with Booster B22 and Ship 42 on a planned two‑stage return and tower‑capture profile.
- After stage separation the Super Heavy booster issued a low‑fuel warning, aborted its landing approach, and diverted to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead of being caught by the launch‑tower arms.
- The upper stage, Ship 42, completed about 14 orbits at roughly 275 km, fired to deorbit and was successfully caught by the launch‑tower mechanical arms on Saturday, November 14.
- SpaceX and Elon Musk released close photos of the captured Ship 42 and confirmed the mission did not recover the full vehicle, with engineers investigating the booster’s low‑fuel abort.
- The mission advances a key element of Starship’s rapid‑reuse goal but leaves work to achieve routine two‑stage recovery, raises questions about fuel margins and guidance timing, and sets up further tests and technical reviews.