SpaceX’s reported plan for Starship Flight 15 is to attempt to catch both the Starship upper stage and the Super Heavy booster at the launch tower at Starbase, Texas. The reported target was November 2026. The FAA’s completed environmental review is separate from the operating permit or license required for a flight.
What Starship Flight 15 is supposed to attempt
Flight 15 is Starship’s fifteenth test flight. SpaceX’s reported goal is to bring both stages back to the tower for a catch. SpaceX had previously caught Super Heavy on three test flights, while Starship had splashed down in the ocean, according to The Independent.
SpaceX’s reported target was November 2026. AI Shift News reported that November 8 appeared on an airspace-planning slide, not as a confirmed launch date. The same outlet reported that Elon Musk gave no calendar day for the flight on a SpaceX investor call on October 20.
What the FAA review means for flight authorization
The FAA’s project page lists completed environmental review for updated Starship return-to-launch-site profiles at Boca Chica. Separately, the agency says Starship and Super Heavy operations require an experimental permit or vehicle operator license. The environmental review does not itself provide that operating authorization. The FAA’s Starship project page describes the review and licensing requirements.
AI Shift News reported on October 23 that the Flight 15-specific license was not public at that time. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president, said the company expected its license to cover return-to-launch-site and tower-catch profiles for both stages.
Flight 14 was reported to have reached Earth orbit, a different milestone from returning both stages to the tower. NeoTeo’s earlier coverage of Starship Flight 14 covers that flight’s reported orbital milestone.
