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Starship booster lost in Gulf as SpaceX plans first catch of upper stage from orbit

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Summary

  • SpaceX's Starship Test Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on 13 November 2026 in the first flight to attempt catching both the booster and the upper stage.
  • The booster catch failed; the booster was diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and exploded before hitting the water.
  • The flight released 26 Starlink v3 satellites, adding to a constellation of more than 11,000 in low Earth orbit.
  • SpaceX plans to attempt the first-ever catch of the Starship upper stage from orbit on 14 November, after about 14 Earth orbits.
  • A full recovery of both stages would be the first of an orbital launch system, a key step toward a fully reusable rocket for Starlink launches and NASA lunar missions.

Reactions

  • The Hawaii Department of Transportation temporarily paused some West Coast flights on 13 November over debris risk from the Starship flight, later lifting the pause.
  • Elon Musk has said his vision is to use Starship to 'colonize Mars' and 'make humanity multi-planetary.'
  • SpaceX launch vice president Kiko Dontchev said the company is now fundamentally an infrastructure company, while Mars settlement remains core to its aspirations.
  • SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said Starship could be commanded to tumble into the atmosphere and come down in the Pacific if flying over populated areas were judged risky.

Timeline newest first

  1. SpaceX said it plans to attempt the first-ever catch of the Starship upper stage from orbit on 14 November 2026, after about 14 Earth orbits, using the tower's 'chopsticks' arms at Starbase, Texas.
  2. SpaceX failed to catch the Starship booster on 13 November 2026 and diverted it to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, where it exploded before hitting the water.
  3. Starship Test Flight 15 released 26 Starlink v3 satellites into orbit, adding to a Starlink constellation of over 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
  4. SpaceX's Starship lifted off from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase in South Texas at 4:47 p.m. local time on 13 November 2026.
  5. About an hour before the planned catch, SpaceX gave a final 'go' to catch the Starship spacecraft at its Texas launch site, keeping a Pacific splashdown near Hawaii as a fallback.
  6. One of Starship's engines fired briefly, enough for the spacecraft to drop out of orbit ahead of the re-entry and catch attempt.
  7. On 13 November, SpaceX gave reporters a rare tour of Starfactory, its million-square-foot Starship manufacturing facility in Texas, barring photographs and video inside.
  8. SpaceX planned Starship Flight 15 for 13 November 2026 as the first flight to attempt returning both the booster and the upper stage for catch.
  9. SpaceX said that if Starship Flight 15 succeeded, it would mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system.

Sources newest first

  • SpaceX plans to try first-ever catch of Starship rocket from orbitcnbc.com· 40m

    SpaceX's Starship Test Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase, Texas on 13 November 2026, but the company failed to catch the booster, which was diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and exploded — though the flight still released 26 more Starlink v3 satellites, adding to a constellation of over 11,000. SpaceX plans to attempt its first-ever catch of the Starship upper stage from orbit on 14 November, after 14 Earth orbits, using the "chopsticks" arms on its launch tower.

  • Starship Live Updates: SpaceX Tries for Milestone Rocket Landingnytimes.com· 1h

    Kenneth Chang's live-updates article reports SpaceX's latest Starship flight, launched Friday from South Texas, is expected to re-enter Saturday afternoon and, for the first time, return to its launchpad, where mechanical arms would catch the spacecraft out of midair about 4:18 p.m. Eastern. Friday's launch skipped the booster catch, with the booster splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico instead.

  • Rocket Report: Starship set for historic test flight; a century of Electronarstechnica.com· 33h

    Eric Berger's Rocket Report leads with SpaceX's Starship Flight 15, set for November 13, which would be the first flight to return both booster and upper stage for catch — and, if successful, the first full recovery of an orbital launch system. The edition also marks Rocket Lab's 100th Electron mission, reports $150 million Pentagon loans each to Stoke Space and Rocket Lab as SpaceX winds down Falcon, and covers Firefly's multi-launch deal with Synspective and Rocket Lab's Neutron price hike to $70 million.

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