SpaceX (SPCX) aims to make each Starship flight more epic than the previous one. Elon Musk’s rocket company is fully prepared for the next launch, i.e., Flight 15 (IFT-15).
Starship’s 14th launch entered and left orbit safely for the first time. Starship 41 also delivered Starlink V3 satellites to orbit as payload.
Flight 15 Starship promises to do all of that and even more. As Musk confirmed in the Q3 2026 earnings call, SpaceX will attempt to catch both the booster and the upper stage Starship (Ship 42) in Flight 15.
This is a monumental task—catching steel megastructures mid-air using the launch tower Chopticks. It remains to be seen if SpaceX will also attempt to re-stack Ship 42 onto Booster 22 on return to the launch site (Starbase, Texas).
SpaceX is preparing for Flight 15 and has completed major tests on both vehicles. On Sunday, October 25, SpaceX performed a successful 33-engine static fire test on Super Heavy Booster 22.
Yesterday (October 27), SpaceX conducted a single-engine static fire test on the upper-stage Starship 42. Today (October 28), SpaceX completed a six-engine static fire test on Ship 42 (videos below).
SpaceX has not given a no-earlier-than (NET) date for Flight 15, as it awaits final regulatory approval. SpaceX has already obtained environmental clearance from the FAA for Starship catch at Starbase, Texas.
Starship Catch and Deorbit Burn Simulations
Static fire tests are done before a live flight to check the rocket and spacecraft’s integrity under extreme pressure while the engines fire.
A single Raptor 3 engine produces 280 tf (ton-force) of thrust, about 4 to 5 times that of a GE9X (Boeing 777X) jet engine (peak thrust: 60.9 tf). This sheer force makes these static fire tests so important.
In addition to the fiery testing, SpaceX also ran additional simulations. According to SpaceX, the single-engine static fire on Flight 15 Starship 42 simulated a deorbit burn (exiting orbit and pushing toward Earth’s atmosphere using single-engine thrust in space).
SpaceX also ran an interesting ship-catch simulation at the Starbase launch tower. While Ship 42 was mounted on the test stand for static fire at the Massey’s Outpost, the Chopsticks lifted and lowered Starship 43 (video below).
It was a Starship catch practice/simulation. Although SpaceX has caught Super Heavy boosters multiple times, this will be the first time it catches a Starship upper stage on its way back to Earth from orbit.
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Related SpaceX / Starship News
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- Flight 15 catch, Starlink V3, SI ($1T revenue): Key takeaways from Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX) Q3 2026 Earnings Call
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 completes major pre-launch static fires for Flight 15 Starship test (IFT-15). Watch the Starship catch and deorbit burn simulation tests, and more.){kind=link}