SpaceX · Starship · 14 Nov 2026
Starship Flight 15: the booster diverted, and Mechazilla caught the ship at Starbase
Starship Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase on Friday, Nov 13, at 5:48 p.m. ET (2:48 p.m. PT) and deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites in orbit. Super Heavy Booster 22 diverted to a splashdown in the Gulf instead of a catch. At 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 p.m. PT) on Saturday, Nov 14, SpaceX said Mechazilla caught the ship at Starbase — the first Starship return-to-launch-site catch. It is not a full two-stage recovery. (As of 14 Nov 2026, 4:52 p.m. ET.)
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Updated
Update, 14 Nov 2026: Mechazilla caught the ship at Starbase at 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 p.m. PT). The booster remains a Gulf splashdown, not a two-stage recovery. (As of 14 Nov 2026, 4:52 p.m. ET.)
Update, 14 Nov 2026: Full recap from launch to the first ship catch, with the video: Starship Flight 15 recap →
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What happened on Friday
All times are from SpaceX's own posts, converted to ET.
| Time (ET, Nov 13) | Event |
|---|---|
| 5:48 p.m. | Liftoff from Starbase, three minutes into a window that opened at 5:45 p.m. ET |
| 5:51 p.m. | Hot-staging separation; Super Heavy starts "boosting back towards Starbase for a catch" |
| 5:55 p.m. | "Super Heavy has diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf" |
| 5:57 p.m. | Ascent burn complete; ship on a planned suborbital path while teams check systems |
| 6:11 p.m. | Go for orbit; SpaceX said the ship would soon do a short single-Raptor burn into an orbit of about 275 km |
| 6:15 p.m. | Single-Raptor orbital insertion burn; SpaceX said Starship "enters orbit of Earth for the second time" |
| 6:27 to 7:06 p.m. | Deployment of 26 Starlink V3 satellites, a sequence SpaceX said would take about 42 minutes; all 26 in orbit |
| 7:08 p.m. | Long coast begins, about 21 hours planned, with "a few early deorbit options" if needed |
Super Heavy has diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
The booster: still no V3 catch
Booster 22 was the first Super Heavy V3 booster SpaceX planned to bring back to the launch site for a catch. It did turn around and head home, then diverted. As of 14 Nov 2026, 4:52 p.m. ET, SpaceX hadn't said why. It did fire for a landing burn before splashing down, per SpaceX's own video.
That leaves the record where SpaceX's Flight 15 page put it before launch: three first-generation boosters caught, two of them reflown, and no V3 booster caught yet. (The mission page, re-checked at about 4:52 p.m. ET on 14 Nov, still read as a pre-launch plan.) The V3 boosters on Flights 12 and 13 ended in hard splashdowns, and Flight 14's booster splashed down in the Gulf without a catch attempt.
The ship: second time in orbit
SpaceX described the insertion burn as Starship entering "orbit of Earth for the second time." The first was Flight 14 on Sep 28, which also carried 26 Starlink V3 satellites and came down in the north Pacific. This time the ship stayed up for about a day so it could come back over Starbase.
| Flight 14 (Sep 28) | Flight 15 (Nov 13 to 14) | |
|---|---|---|
| Payload | 26 Starlink V3 | 26 Starlink V3, all deployed |
| Booster | Gulf splashdown, no catch attempt | Catch planned, diverted to the Gulf |
| Ship ending | Deorbit burn, splashdown in the north Pacific | Tower catch at Starbase at 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 p.m. PT) on 14 Nov, per SpaceX |
Starlink said the payload adds up to 26 terabits of capacity to the network. Musk added that "future Starship flights will carry over 50 Tb/s of Starlink bandwidth to orbit." That second figure is a forward-looking claim.
Starship and its heatshield are healthy as the vehicle continues to orbit Earth after a spectacular start to its mission nearly 7 hours ago. Teams are continuing to monitor systems ahead of a planned return to launch site catch at Starbase ~22.5 hours after launch
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026
The ship catch
At 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 p.m. PT) on Saturday, 14 Nov 2026, SpaceX posted: “Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement!” Official confirmation: @SpaceX. That is the first Starship return-to-launch-site catch, in SpaceX’s own framing from 3:16 p.m. ET (12:16 p.m. PT): “for the first time ship's return to launch site and catch at Starbase.” The booster was not caught. (As of 14 Nov 2026, 4:52 p.m. ET.)
Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement!
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026
The official @SpaceX log on Saturday, all times ET with PT in brackets:
- 4:18 p.m. ET (1:18 p.m. PT): “Starship is executing a banking maneuver and final approach as it returns to Starbase for a catch.” Post.
- 3:58 p.m. ET (12:58 p.m. PT): “Starship is reentering Earth’s atmosphere.” Post.
- 3:25 p.m. ET (12:25 p.m. PT): “Good deorbit burn. Starship is on course to reenter Earth’s atmosphere ahead of a planned catch at Starbase in ~1 hour.” Post.
- 3:16 p.m. ET (12:16 p.m. PT): “Watch live: After being in orbit for more than 21 hours, Starship is preparing for its deorbit burn, reentry, and for the first time ship's return to launch site and catch at Starbase.” Post.
SpaceX’s Flight 15 page still read as a pre-launch plan when re-checked at about 4:52 p.m. ET on 14 Nov. The published timeline put the catch at T+22:32:34 from the 5:48:55 p.m. ET Friday liftoff, which is 4:21:29 p.m. ET. Use 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 p.m. PT) for the confirmation. Super Heavy Booster 22 diverted to an offshore Gulf splashdown on 13 Nov and was not caught. This is not a full two-stage recovery.
My read
Losing the booster catch stings, mostly because a V3 booster still hasn't been caught after four flights. But the ship was the main event: it reached orbit, dropped its full payload, and Mechazilla caught it at Starbase. The booster is still in the Gulf. Which matters more to you: the booster coming home, or the ship?
— Alex R
Sources: @SpaceX on X (Nov 13 to 14, 2026, posts linked above), including the catch confirmation at 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 p.m. PT); SpaceX Flight 15 page (pre-launch plan and timeline, re-checked about 4:52 p.m. ET on 14 Nov 2026); SpaceX Flight 14 page; Flight 12 and Flight 13 pages; @Starlink (Nov 13); @elonmusk (Nov 14); Supercharged Daily on SpaceX's Starship timeline. Hero photo: NASA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Never Electrek.
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