SpaceX Starship 15th Test Flight to Attempt First Ship Tower Catch, SPCX Up Over 1% Pre-Market

TradingKey - SpaceX (SPCX) plans to launch its Starship rocket on its 15th flight mission on Friday afternoon (Nov. 13) Eastern Time. The highlight of this mission is that the company will attempt for the first time to return the space-bound Starship upper stage to its Texas launch site and catch it midair using mechanical arms on the launch tower, rather than having the spacecraft splash down in the ocean as in previous flights.

Buoyed by expectations surrounding the mission's progress, SpaceX shares rose over 1% in premarket trading.

Source: TradingKey

This test is critical to Elon Musk's long-pursued goal of full rocket reusability. Standing approximately 407 feet (124 meters) tall, Starship is scheduled to lift off at 4:45 p.m. Central Time on Nov. 13 from SpaceX's Starbase facility in southern Texas. This will mark Starship's 15th flight since 2023 and the second time it carries operational Starlink satellites. In other words, the mission not only serves to validate rocket recovery technology, but will also provide actual payload capacity for SpaceX's satellite internet business.

However, whether the launch proceeds as scheduled remains subject to regulatory clearance. As of Friday morning, SpaceX had not yet obtained a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Historically, the FAA typically completed license approvals the day before a Starship launch, but the agency has not yet responded regarding recent developments.

The recovery plan involves two primary components of the rocket. The lower Super Heavy booster is responsible for propelling Starship into space, and SpaceX plans to return the booster to the launch site after separation to be caught by massive mechanical arms on the launch tower. The upper Starship stage will continue into orbit, complete its flight mission, and then return to Texas in an attempt to achieve humanity's first tower catch of a Starship upper stage.

Following liftoff, the Super Heavy booster is expected to return to Starbase in just about six and a half minutes. SpaceX has already successfully recovered the booster three times using the launch tower's giant mechanical arms. Therefore, the true technological breakthrough of this mission lies not in the booster itself, but in the first-ever attempt to catch the Starship upper stage returning from orbit. Compared with the booster, Starship travels farther and at higher speeds, with its reentry enduring more complex thermal environments and aerodynamic forces, significantly increasing the difficulty of control.

To clear the catch area for the upper stage's return, SpaceX must move the booster away from the launch tower after recovering it. Starship will then orbit Earth approximately 14 times, remaining in space for about 22 and a half hours, and is scheduled to return to Texas on Saturday afternoon. If any anomalies occur in flight status, reentry trajectory, or landing conditions, the company will abort the tower catch and instead guide the spacecraft to a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Starship's significance extends beyond the rocket launch business. SpaceX hopes to leverage this next-generation launch system to scale up its Starlink satellite network and provide launch capacity for the future deployment of an in-space AI data-processing satellite constellation named "Starmind." As the company expands from satellite internet into infrastructure sectors such as space computing, greater payload capacity and lower launch costs will serve as critical pillars.