Ship 42: first Starship to attempt a tower catch

The mission

Ship 42 is the Starship upper stage on Flight 15, stacked with Super Heavy Booster 22. SpaceX is targeting Friday 13 November 2026 from Pad 2 at Starbase, pending regulatory approval. The 75-minute window opens at 4:45 p.m. CT (22:45 UTC). That is a published window, not a guaranteed lift-off time.

For the first time SpaceX plans to catch both stages with the tower. Ship 42's job, after deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites, is a flight of more than 22 hours and then the first Ship catch at Starbase, if the flight-control team is satisfied the vehicle is healthy. The tower has never caught a Starship; it has caught a Super Heavy booster three times, on Flights 5, 7 and 8.

SpaceX said on 28 October that Ship 42's static fires were complete. Elon Musk quoted that post the same evening. No FAA licence for Flight 15 is published.

Why this ship

The hardware work that is public is the static-fire campaign and catch tests on Pad 2.

• SpaceX said on 28 Oct 2026 that Ship 42 "performed a full duration, six-engine static fire, and fired a single Raptor engine to simulate a deorbit burn." NASASpaceflight and Next Spaceflight put the single-engine burn on 26 Oct and the six-engine fire, about 60 seconds, on 27 Oct, both at Massey's. Source
• On 11 and 12 September, Ship 42 was lifted by the Pad 2 chopsticks in catch-related tests, as seen in LabPadre and NASASpaceflight footage. Teams also connected the ship quick-disconnect arm several times. Source
• On SpaceX's 20 Oct earnings call, Musk said the company will "attempt to catch both the booster and the ship" on Flight 15, and that "it's more likely than not that this succeeds next flight." If both catches work, he said that would be "the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered." Source

The tower for a Ship catch

Pad 2's tower is not the same machine that caught Super Heavy on earlier flights. SpaceX's May update covers shorter chopsticks, electromechanical actuators and a strengthened ship quick-disconnect. Alex R's 11 November post on X walks through the roof, the shorter arms and why they matter for Friday's Ship catch.

• What SpaceX has said Disclosed

  SpaceX's 12 May 2026 update on Pad 2 said the chopsticks are now shorter, "allowing faster motion to better track vehicles during catch operations." The main actuators changed from hydraulic to electromechanical "to improve speed, redundancy, and reliability." The ship quick-disconnect arm "has been strengthened, repackaged, and now rotates farther away from the rocket during launch." Source

• A roof on the tower Reported

  The Pad 2 tower now has a roof with protective cladding. Alex R's 11 November post reads that as a Ship-catch change: the vehicle comes in belly-first, flips upright and fires its Raptors beside the tower, and that burn can throw exhaust at the cables that move the chopsticks. That purpose is our analysis, not a SpaceX line. The same post says the roof went on late in construction and that SpaceX plans one for Pad 1; SpaceX has not published either. Source

• Shorter arms Reported

  The arms are two full truss sections shorter than the originals. The 11 November post's reading is that Boosters 12, 14 and 15 were all caught on the inner part of the arms, close to the tower, so the unused outer end came off. The old ship lifting pins are gone; Block 3 ships are not lifted that way. Source

• Draining the Ship after a catch Reported

  After a catch the ship still has leftover cryogenic propellant. The 11 November post's reading is that the stronger Pad 2 quick-disconnect arm swings in so that propellant can be drained before anyone inspects the vehicle or flies it again. SpaceX connected that arm to Ship 42 in September, as seen in the catch-related tests above; calling that a drain rehearsal is our reading. Source

What to watch on Ship 42

Times below are approximate, from SpaceX's Flight 15 mission page. The booster catch, if it happens, is about six and a half minutes after lift-off. Ship 42's own catch is more than 22 hours later.

1. T+8:09

   Starship engine cutoff

   Hot-staging is at about T+2:21; the Ship then burns until engine cutoff eight minutes after lift-off. Source

2. T+35:01 to T+1:17:40

   Payload deploy

   SpaceX plans 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Three of them carry cameras to scan the heat shield and send the pictures down. Source

3. T+21:35:57

   Deorbit burn

   SpaceX lists return checks over Hawaii and Chile during the coast (early Hawaii, mid Chile, final Hawaii). Source

4. T+22:10:46

   Entry, then landing burn and catch at about T+22:32:34

   SpaceX says the Ship will only fly that profile if systems critical for re-entry, the landing burn and the tower approach are healthy. Source

Why the heat shield matters

Bringing Ship 42 home intact means surviving re-entry. SpaceX's Flight 15 page is specific about what this heat shield is testing.

• SpaceX says the heat shield takes the Flight 14 changes: extra retention on tiles most at risk of coming off during ascent, and work on paths that let plasma get behind the tiles. A large portion uses a curved tile meant to cut heating in the gaps. Source
• Thousands of small hexagonal tiles cover the Ship's windward side. Because the Ship is mostly a plain cylinder, most tiles can share one shape and the rest are machined to fit, CNBC reported in August 2021. Source
• Most tiles are attached mechanically rather than glued, and SpaceX makes them in-house, according to Air & Space (December 2021). Source

Will the tower catch a Ship this year?

Obvious Later is running a private call on whether SpaceX catches a Starship upper stage with the tower arms by 31 December 2026 UTC. Make your own 0 to 100 percent call. The card does not show anyone else's number.

Where to watch

• SpaceX on X ↗SpaceX streams Starship flights on X and spacex.com. It posts the stream's start time on the day; we will add it to the Updates log.
• spacex.com ↗The official Flight 15 mission page and webcast. Ship 42 is the Starship on that flight.

Follow it on Supercharged Daily

• Flight 15 hubThe full dual-catch plan, countdown and where to watch both stages.
• Starship trackerEvery flight, the hardware and the next target.
• Launch calendarUpcoming SpaceX launches with add-to-calendar.
• Can I see the launch?Find where to look from your location with a live compass.
• Play the double catchOur arcade game: catch the booster, then the Ship. Same mission for everyone, so you can compare scores.

Updates

Newest first. Each line carries its date and how sure we are: Disclosed (from the company), Reported (from outlets), Target (a plan, not a result) or Correction (a change to this page).

Reload

1. 11 Nov 2026 Reported Alex R's 11 November post on X walks through Pad 2's new roof, shorter chopsticks and stronger quick-disconnect arm. The roof purpose, Pad 1 plan, truss cut and drain-after-catch reading are ours, not a SpaceX line. SpaceX's May Pad 2 update is linked in the tower section. Source
2. 11 Nov 2026 Target Re-checked SpaceX's Flight 15 mission page: the window is still as soon as Friday 13 November, 4:45 p.m. CT (22:45 UTC), 75 minutes, pending regulatory approval. No FAA licence is published. Source
3. 8 Nov 2026 Disclosed SpaceX published the Flight 15 mission page: as soon as Friday 13 November from Pad 2, pending regulatory approval. Dual catch, 26 Starlink V3, more than 22 hours, first Ship return-to-launch-site. Source
4. 7 Nov 2026 Disclosed SpaceX's 7 Nov update, "Returning Starship to the Launch Site", says Flight 15 will attempt the first Ship catch at Starbase. Controllers will only commit to that catch if internally developed, FAA-approved return conditions are met. Source
5. 28 Oct 2026 Disclosed SpaceX said Ship 42's static fires are complete: a full-duration six-engine fire and a single-engine deorbit-burn simulation. Source
6. 28 Oct 2026 Disclosed Elon Musk quoted SpaceX's post: "As the prophecy foretold, Starship 42 will be the first tower catch." Source
7. 27 Oct 2026 Reported NASASpaceflight and Next Spaceflight logged Ship 42's six-engine static fire at Massey's on 27 Oct, about 5:46 p.m. ET (2:46 p.m. PT), roughly 60 seconds. Source
8. 26 Oct 2026 Reported NASASpaceflight's live coverage and Next Spaceflight's test log put Ship 42's single-engine deorbit-burn simulation at Massey's on 26 Oct at about 10:17 p.m. ET (7:17 p.m. PT). Source
9. 25 Oct 2026 Disclosed SpaceX confirmed a full-duration 33-engine static fire of Booster 22, the Flight 15 Super Heavy, on Pad 2. Source

Related reporting

• Musk says Ship 42 will be the first Starship caught by the tower, now that its static fires are done29 Oct 2026
• Ship catch in 4–6 weeks11 Oct 2026
• SpaceX just put dates on Starship’s next five steps. Here’s each one next to the old target, and the launch caps the plan runs into21 Oct 2026