SpaceX launched its 15th Starship flight from Boca Chica, Texas, on Friday successfully reaching orbit and deploying 26 satellites while aborting its first-stage booster catch.
SpaceX launched Starship on Friday afternoon from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. It began a 22-hour test mission to catch both vehicle stages.
The 407-foot-tall vehicle is the world’s largest rocket. It lifted off at 4:47 p.m. local time, propelled by 33 methane-burning Raptor engines, according to reporting by CBS News.
Super Heavy Booster Diverts to Gulf of Mexico Before Exploding
While the Super Heavy booster initially separated to return to the launch site, flight controllers ordered a diversion to the Gulf of Mexico roughly six minutes after liftoff. The booster splashed down and exploded.
SpaceX employees watched the 124-meter-tall rocket blast off from Boca Chica at 16:45 local time. The lower Super Heavy booster stretches 236 feet and the upper-stage spacecraft spans 171 feet.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued the launch license just hours ahead of the flight. The Super Heavy first stage roared to life loaded with eight million pounds of supercold liquid oxygen and methane fuel.
Dan Huot of SpaceX said on the livestream that the team was not sure why they were unable to bring the Super Heavy booster back. It was not known what triggered the explosion.
The spacecraft continued into orbit about 27 minutes after launch. It began releasing its cargo of 26 Starlink satellites, and three carried cameras to analyze the heat shield.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop that temporarily paused flights to the west coast from Hawaii due to space debris before operations resumed.
11/13/26 3:43PM: The nationwide ground stop and the temporary pause for space debris have both been lifted. There may be delays as airlines work to accommodate passengers from earlier flights. Travelers are still advised to check with their carrier before leaving for the airport. pic.twitter.com/JgLdIgYZ6N
“That certainly isn’t the news that we had hoped to hear for today,” said Kate Tice, SpaceX’s director of quality management, as reported by The Guardian.
The upper-stage Starship continued its ascent after the Super Heavy booster failure. It successfully reached orbit and began deploying a payload of 26 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX Develops Lunar Lander for NASA Artemis Program
The Starship program carries implications for NASA. NASA has awarded SpaceX roughly $3.2 billion to develop a lunar lander variant capable of carrying astronauts to the moon under the Artemis moon program by 2028.
SpaceX has invested at least $15 billion of its own funds into the rocket. Elon Musk said he expects to achieve a pace of weekly Starship launches by early 2027.
SpaceX will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and Starship on the upcoming flight. If both are successful, it will mark the first time that all parts of an orbital rocket return to Earth intact. This is the critical breakthrough needed to make life multiplanetary. https://t.co/BIxkhd5bkR
NASA is also working with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. Blue Origin is developing the Blue Moon lander for the Artemis program.
SpaceX’s Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch, said at a NASA tech summit at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center that scaled-up infrastructure combined with full rocket reusability is how missions scale from zero to hundreds of thousands of flights.
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 pic.twitter.com/NeT8wosF4l
Achieving full reusability is a central objective for lowering launch costs across commercial and exploration flights.
Full reusability has the potential to fundamentally change the economics of accessing space. One successful flight will not prove that model, but it could mark an important transition: from demonstrating that Starship can fly, to demonstrating how Starship could operate.
Prof Malcolm Macdonald, president of Royal Aeronautical Society
SpaceX plans to attempt a recovery of the upper-stage spacecraft during its return to the Starbase launchpad, scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Live views of Starship in orbit brought to you by @Starlink pic.twitter.com/7RW3I1LG2e
Earlier coverage: SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit and Deploys Starlink V3 Satellites in Successful 15th Test Flight
Starship is traveling around the world every ~90 minutes right now
