SpaceX Plans First Starship Booster and Ship Catch

SpaceX planned its 15th Starship test flight for Friday, November 13, aiming to recover both the Super Heavy booster and the spacecraft in a single mission. The Federal Aviation Administration’s final approval was still pending in reports published before the planned launch, and no outcome was reported.

The company’s plan called for Super Heavy to return to the launch site about six and a half minutes after liftoff, where mechanical arms would attempt to catch it. Starship was to continue into orbit, deploy 26 Starlink satellites, circle Earth 14 times and return about 22 hours later for an attempted catch at the same site in South Texas.

SpaceX has caught the booster on three earlier occasions, but the flight would mark its first attempt to catch the Starship spacecraft. The company said it would proceed with the capture maneuvers only under optimal conditions. Recovering the spacecraft presents additional engineering challenges because it would return from a higher altitude at greater speed and must withstand the heat of atmospheric reentry.

SpaceX said a successful recovery of both stages would mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system and advance its goal of...