SpaceX launched Starship on its 15th test flight on Friday, 13 November 2026, from Starbase in Texas. The upper stage reached orbit and deployed 26 Starlink satellites, Spaceflight Now reported. The Super Heavy booster, however, did not return to the launch tower as planned. It diverted to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and exploded.

The flight was the first in which SpaceX tried to recover both stages by catching them with the arms of the launch tower.

What happened

  • Launch: at 5:47 p.m. Eastern time (22:47 UTC) from Starbase.
  • Booster: after separating from the ship, the booster was supposed to fly back to the tower. It diverted offshore instead, splashed down and was destroyed.
  • Ship: the upper stage entered orbit for a flight of about 22 hours, according to Space.com, with a return and catch attempt planned afterwards. The result of that return was not known when this article was published.

Why reusing both stages matters

Starship is designed to be fully reusable. Rockets today usually throw away at least the upper stage after each launch. If both stages can be caught and flown again, the cost per launch could fall sharply, and launch frequency could rise. That is the basis of SpaceX's plans for large Starlink satellites, for NASA's Artemis Moon landings, which rely on a Starship lander, and for longer-term missions to Mars.

Losing a booster is a setback for the catch attempt, but test programs at SpaceX are designed to fail and learn. Previous flights have already shown successful booster catches.

What it means beyond the US

For Europe and Canada, Starship is both a competitor and a reference point. Europe's Ariane 6 is not reusable, and European companies are working on reusable designs. Canadian satellite operators and researchers depend on affordable launches, and a working, reusable Starship would change the price of getting large payloads to orbit.

The next steps to watch are the outcome of the ship's return, SpaceX's analysis of the booster's diversion and any investigation required by the US Federal Aviation Administration before the next flight.