Overview

• The company is aiming to launch from Starbase at 6:15 p.m. CT on Oct. 13 with a livestream starting about 30 minutes before liftoff.
• Super Heavy Booster 15 will fly again with 24 of its 33 Raptor engines listed as flight‑proven, marking the second reuse of a Super Heavy booster.
• The booster will test a 13→5→3 engine landing sequence, execute a brief hover, then splash down in the Gulf of America to measure dynamics during shutdown transitions.
• The upper stage will deploy eight Starlink simulators expected to burn up, attempt a Raptor relight in space, trial banking and subsonic guidance, and target an Indian Ocean splashdown.
• Engineers removed select heat‑shield tiles to stress‑test vulnerable areas, and coverage reports this as the last Starship test of 2025 before a shift toward the V3 vehicle in early 2026.