SpaceX · 25 Oct 2026
Booster 22 just fired all 33 engines. Here's what still stands between Starship and its first double catch
SpaceX confirmed a full-duration, 33-engine static fire of the Super Heavy booster for Flight 15 on Sunday, 25 Oct 2026. That clears the biggest booster-side test. As of Sunday evening (), the ship, the licence and the launch date are still open.
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What happened
Booster 22 lit all 33 of its Raptor engines on Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, on Sunday morning, 25 Oct. Spaceflight Now put the static fire at 8:22am CDT, which is 9:22am ET and 6:22am PT (). About half an hour earlier, at 7:52am CDT, NASASpaceflight posted that propellant loading for the test had begun.
SpaceX confirmed it on X that afternoon, at 3:49pm ET (12:49pm PT; ): "Full duration 33-engine static fire for the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 15." That's a completed test, not a plan. SpaceX's own post doesn't name the booster number. LabPadre, Spaceflight Now and NASASpaceflight all identify it as Booster 22.
Full duration 33-engine static fire for the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 15
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 25, 2026
Video: @SpaceX on X. If the post doesn't load, the link opens it on X.
Why this one matters
A static fire holds the booster down on the pad while every engine runs. It's the closest thing to a launch without leaving the ground. Until Sunday it was the step this booster hadn't done. When we updated our Flight 15 ship-catch story on 14 Oct, Booster 22 had not static-fired yet.
It also matters for what Flight 15 is meant to try. On SpaceX's Q3 earnings call on 20 Oct, Elon Musk said that on Flight 15, "which we expect to happen next month, we're going to attempt to catch both the booster and the ship," per the call transcript. Booster catches have been done before. A ship catch has never been tried. That's a stated goal, not a result.
The Flight 15 checklist, after Sunday
| Step | Status as of 25 Oct 2026, 20:45 Irish time | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Booster 22 full-duration static fire | Done (25 Oct) | SpaceX on X |
| Ship 42 static fire | Not announced by SpaceX | No Ship 42 static fire post on SpaceX's X feed this month |
| FAA licence for a two-stage catch flight | Expected by SpaceX, not announced as issued | Gwynne Shotwell on the Q3 call: "we expect the license for our Flight 15 to include return to launch site and tower catch for both stages." The FAA's Starship project page didn't mention a Flight 15 licence on 25 Oct |
| Launch date | No SpaceX date. An unofficial FAA air-traffic planning slide, reported by NASASpaceflight, showed no earlier than 8 Nov. On 10 Oct, Musk said "a little bit before Thanksgiving" (26 Nov) | Our 21 Oct timeline |
The table and status calls are mine. Put simply: the booster half of the stack has done its big test, and the open items are now on the ship side and the paperwork side.
The Florida pipeline right behind it
Sunday's test also starts a queue. A NASASpaceflight report published the same day says SpaceX is pushing to fly Flight 16 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center as soon as possible, with Booster 23 and Ship 43:
- Booster 23 finished cryo-proof testing on 15 Oct and is slated to be ready for static fire in late November. Unlike a ship, it can be static-fired at 39A, which also helps bring the new pad online.
- Ship 43 finished cryo-proof testing on 23 Oct. Because there's no ship test stand in Florida yet, it has to be fully finished and static-fired in Texas before it's barged east. NASASpaceflight estimates, from the timelines of Ships 40 to 42, a static fire in mid-December and transport in early to mid-January.
- First Florida launch: NASASpaceflight's estimate is late January, "assuming no issues." That's the outlet's projection, not a SpaceX date.
The pad side is moving too. Per the same report, SpaceX added a reinforced roof to the 39A tower on 12 Oct to protect it during ship catches. Once two new methane tanks are hooked up, the pad will hold nearly 5,000 metric tons of liquid methane, about 3.8 stacks' worth. SpaceX and NASA have also applied to grow the nearby Roberts Road campus from 167 acres to nearly 400. That's still a draft environmental assessment heading into public comment, not an approval.
My read
The comparison I keep coming back to is the gap between the two halves of each stack. Booster 22 has now fired. SpaceX hasn't announced a Ship 42 static fire, and on the Florida side NASASpaceflight expects Booster 23 to be ready for static fire a few weeks before Ship 43. Ships are the slower piece right now, and they're also the piece Flight 15 is asking to do something new. If SpaceX gets a ship static fire done in the next couple of weeks, the November window looks real. Until then, Sunday is a big step on a two-part checklist.
Track the next flight on the Starship flight tracker.
Sources: SpaceX on X, 25 Oct 2026; Spaceflight Now on X, 25 Oct 2026; NASASpaceflight on X, 25 Oct 2026; LabPadre on X, 25 Oct 2026; SpaceX Q3 2026 earnings call transcript (Quartr via Stock Analysis, 20 Oct 2026); FAA Starship Boca Chica project page; NASASpaceflight, "Possible Roberts Road Expansion as SpaceX pushes for Flight 16" (25 Oct 2026); Supercharged Daily: Flight 15 catch timeline. The checklist and analysis are my own.
— Alex R
