VideoFromSpace: "Replay! SpaceX launches Starship Flight 15, booster splashes down". Facts on this page cite the primary sources below, not the video.

The claim: Starship Flight 15 is going for the first double catch.

The proof: One of the two catches is already off. Starship Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase at 5:47 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 13. Eight minutes later SpaceX posted that Super Heavy "has diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf." Booster 22 was not caught. Ship 42 kept going, reached orbit, and at 7:06 p.m. ET SpaceX said "All 26 @Starlink V3 satellites are in orbit." The ship's tower catch, the first ever tried, is planned for about 4:20 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 14. It had not happened when we wrote this.

Written before the ship catch. We updated this post at about 2:25 p.m. ET Saturday. At 2:18 p.m. ET, SpaceX posted that teams had polled go to return Starship to Starbase. Anything after that time isn't in it.

Editorial Thesis

Flight 15 has one clear win and one clear miss so far. The win is orbit plus a full Starlink load: 26 V3 satellites deployed, on Starship's second trip to orbit. The miss is the booster. Its own flight computer called off the catch because the booster "was not in the place that it was supposed to be," SpaceX says, and the root cause is still unknown. No V3 booster has been caught yet. The big test is still ahead: a ship that has never been caught, coming home from orbit over land.

Honest Verdict

  • Confirmed (SpaceX on X, Nov. 13): liftoff, hot-staging, a booster divert to "an offshore splashdown in the Gulf," orbit insertion, and all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed.
  • Confirmed (FAA license, reported): the FAA issued revised license VOL 23-129 Rev. 10.0 on Nov. 13, covering one Flight 15 launch and the ship's reentry (Seeking Alpha; Launch Library 2 logged "License granted" at 2:25 p.m. ET).
  • SpaceX's explanation, so far: guidance software "triggered that abort" after it detected the booster wasn't where it needed to be. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot first called it a guidance issue on Friday, then said Saturday it was not. The root cause is still under investigation.
  • Confirmed (SpaceX on X, 10:41 a.m. ET Nov. 14): "still looking good for return to launch site today. Pad and tower systems are go for catch."
  • Not known yet: whether Ship 42 passes its final return check, survives reentry, and gets caught.

Friday, minute by minute (ET)

Time (ET)What happenedSource
5:47:36 p.m.Liftoff from StarbaseLaunch Library 2; SpaceX on X
5:51 p.m.Hot-staging; booster heads back "for a catch"SpaceX on X
5:54 p.m.Planned booster catch time (T+6:35)SpaceX flight timeline
5:55 p.m.SpaceX: booster "diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf"SpaceX on X
6:15 p.m.Orbital insertion burn; Starship's second time in orbitSpaceX on X
7:06 p.m."All 26 @Starlink V3 satellites are in orbit"SpaceX on X

What went wrong with the booster

SpaceX hasn't published a cause. Here is what it has said. On the webcast, Huot said 32 of 33 booster engines lit for the boostback burn. Booster 22 then started its landing burn, aborted, and steered to a backup splashdown area offshore. Its flight termination system triggered before it hit the water, Huot said. On Saturday he corrected his Friday comment: "It was not a GNC issue that caused us not to come back. GNC triggered that abort; it was doing what it was supposed to do." SpaceX is "still digging into the root cause," he said (Space.com, Spaceflight Now).

SpaceX also posted Saturday that recovery teams were onsite after the splashdown, and that its safety team is recovering any debris that washes onshore.

Context: SpaceX has caught three Super Heavy boosters before, all the older V1 design. This was the first catch try for a V3 booster.

Saturday: the ship's planned way home (ET)

These times come from SpaceX's published timeline, counted from the 5:47:36 p.m. liftoff. They are plans, not results.

Planned time (ET, Sat Nov. 14)Event
2:18 p.m. (planned ~2:29)Done: SpaceX posted that teams polled go to return Starship to Starbase
~3:23 p.m.Deorbit burn with one Raptor
~3:58 p.m.Entry
~4:20 p.m.Ship catch at the Starbase tower

If controllers don't like what they see at the final check, they can drop Ship 42 into the Pacific instead. On the way in, SpaceX can also tumble the ship so it breaks up before land, or send it into the Gulf if the ship or tower has a problem.

What this does not prove

  • It does not prove the ship will be caught. No Starship upper stage has ever been caught.
  • It does not prove the booster problem is fixed, or even found. SpaceX says it's still looking.
  • It does not prove the 26 Starlink V3 satellites are working yet. SpaceX says they're in orbit. Checkout takes weeks.
  • It does not prove rapid reuse. Even a caught ship still has to fly again.

What to watch next

  1. The deorbit burn, about 3:23 p.m. ET.
  2. The catch, or a divert, about 4:20 p.m. ET, on @SpaceX.
  3. SpaceX's root cause for the Booster 22 abort.

Bottom Line

Starship Flight 15 launched at 5:47 p.m. ET on Nov. 13 with its FAA license in hand and put all 26 Starlink V3 satellites in orbit. Booster 22 wasn't caught: its flight computer aborted and it splashed down in the Gulf, cause still unknown. Ship 42 is in orbit and SpaceX says it is go for a tower catch at about 4:20 p.m. ET Saturday. That catch hadn't happened when we wrote this.

Source notes

Event times come from SpaceX's posts on X, converted to ET (UTC−5). Liftoff time to the second comes from Launch Library 2. The planned Saturday times are our math: SpaceX's Flight 15 timeline added to the 5:47:36 p.m. ET liftoff. The FAA license number comes from Seeking Alpha's Nov. 13 report. Launch Library 2 links the FAA license document; we could not open the FAA site directly. Booster abort details are SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot's webcast remarks, as reported by Space.com and Spaceflight Now. Video: VideoFromSpace (Space.com) replay of the Nov. 13 launch broadcast.

Sources