SpaceX (SPCX) launched Starship Flight 15 from Texas on November 13, aiming for the first tower catch of both stages. Its Super Heavy booster instead diverted to a splashdown in the Gulf, SpaceX said, so that double catch is off. Starship, the upper stage, then entered orbit, SpaceX said. Its own catch is planned for Saturday, if its systems check out.
What happened to the Super Heavy booster
Soon after liftoff, SpaceX reported hot staging on X. That is the moment the ship lights its own Raptor engines and pulls away from the booster. Super Heavy then began its boostback, a burn that turns it back toward the launch site.
The plan was a catch by the tower's arms. SpaceX had called it the first return and catch attempt for a Super Heavy V3 booster. Instead, SpaceX said the booster diverted to a splashdown offshore in the Gulf. SpaceX has not yet said why the booster diverted.
Before the flight, SpaceX noted that three earlier V1 boosters had been caught on past tests. Two of those were flown again.
Where Starship is now
SpaceX said Starship's ascent burn was complete. In its words, the ship was "on a planned suborbital trajectory." That means it was not yet in orbit and would fall back without another burn. Teams were checking systems to confirm it was good to proceed to orbit.
About 20 minutes after hot staging, SpaceX gave the answer on X: "Go for orbit!" It said Starship would soon fire one Raptor engine in a short burn to enter orbit.
A few minutes later, at 6:15 p.m. ET, SpaceX posted that Starship had performed its orbital insertion burn and entered orbit of Earth. SpaceX said it was the second time Starship had reached orbit.
SpaceX's Flight 15 page puts that orbit at about 275 km above Earth. The plan is about 14 orbits over a flight of more than 22 hours.
Starship carries 26 Starlink V3 satellites. At 6:27 p.m. ET, SpaceX posted that Starship was now deploying them. It said the sequence would take about 42 minutes. SpaceX says each one adds 1 terabit of capacity to the network. Three of them carry cameras to scan Starship's heatshield.
When the Starship catch is planned
The ship catch has not happened yet. SpaceX's timeline puts it about 22 hours and 32 minutes after liftoff, on Saturday, November 14. Before that, the timeline shows a deorbit burn at about 21 hours and 36 minutes, then entry and a landing burn.
SpaceX says Starship will return to the launch site only if the flight team confirms that the systems needed for reentry, the landing burn and the tower approach are healthy. Before reaching orbit, the ship could have stayed on a safe suborbital path. Now in orbit, it can instead deorbit over the ocean at several planned points. SpaceX said its webcast would continue through the ship catch.
How SPCX shares traded during the flight
SpaceX shares closed the regular session at $139.11 on November 13, according to StockTitan's real-time Nasdaq data. After hours, they reached $139.58 at 5:49 p.m. ET, around liftoff. They then fell to $136.05 at 5:54 p.m. ET, the lowest after-hours trade through 6:34 p.m. ET. SpaceX posted that the booster had diverted at 5:55 p.m. ET, a minute later. Trade data show when shares moved, not why.
At 6:34 p.m. ET, the last trade was $137.24, down $1.87, or 1.3%, from the $139.11 close. Trading after the bell is thin. About 3.9 million shares had changed hands after hours by then, against 69.9 million in the regular session. With less trading, prices can swing more sharply.
What SpaceX says comes next
SpaceX described a full catch of both stages as the first full recovery of an orbital launch system. It called that a breakthrough for making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket. With Super Heavy diverted from the tower, this flight will not achieve the planned catch of both stages.
SpaceX also said the ship's heatshield carries the fixes made on Flight 14. These include extra tile retention and a curved tile design meant to reduce heating in the gaps between tiles.