Starship Flight 15 Launch Date: Oct 19 at the Earliest
SpaceX has not announced a date for Starship Flight 15. The only date in circulation is provisional: air-traffic planning documents put the earliest possible launch at Monday, October 19, 2026, and Space.com says there is no official date yet. A first attempt to catch the Ship upper stage with the launch tower is in play, but SpaceX has not laid out a mission plan. This page was last checked on October 8. Space.com's October 7 report still says SpaceX has not announced target dates, and calls October 19 and October 30 possible "no earlier than" dates for Flights 15 and 16 that "may be a bit aspirational".
Flight 15 at a glance
| Earliest launch (provisional) | Monday, October 19, 2026 |
| Official date | Not announced in the reports checked up to October 8 |
| Vehicles (expected) | Booster 22 and Ship 42, the fourth pair of Block 3 vehicles to fly |
| Launch site (planned) | Orbital Launch Pad 2, Starbase, Texas |
| Possible headline goal | First catch of a Ship by the tower's arms (not confirmed by SpaceX) |
| Payload and orbit | Not announced. Flight 14 carried 26 Starlink V3 satellites to orbit |
| Next flight after it | Flight 16, a Starlink mission from Florida's pad 39A, provisionally October 30 or later |
The October 19 date traces to a September 24 post on X by NASASpaceflight, which called it "super provisional", according to Wikipedia. Teslarati noted that both that date and the Florida one depend on how Flight 14 went. The same post listed Flight 16, a Starlink mission from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A in Florida, as no earlier than October 30.
Will Ship be caught?
At the All-In Summit on September 14, Elon Musk said SpaceX may try to catch Ship on Flight 15 if Flight 14 went well, Space.com reports. Wikipedia quotes him putting the odds of a first-try catch at "at least 50 or 60 percent". Flight 14 reached orbit, and Space.com says that success "would seem to keep a Ship catch in play". SpaceX has caught Super Heavy boosters with the tower's "chopstick" arms on three flights, but has never tried it with a Ship.
- The plan has moved before. On SpaceX's first earnings call on August 4, Musk said the company would try to catch Ship "on the next flight", then tentatively set for the end of August, "assuming we receive regulatory approval", Space.com reported. That flight became the orbital mission, with no catch, and the attempt moved to Flight 15.
- Ship 42 has practiced. On September 11 and 12, Ship 42 was lifted and held by the chopsticks in a simulated catch position at Pad 2, per NASASpaceflight as summarized by Wikipedia.
- Approval is a separate step. SpaceX has not said it has regulatory approval for a Ship catch, and none of the reports checked say it does.
Will it really fly on October 19?
Prediction: treat October 19 as the day to start watching, not as a launch date. The last two flights left later than the first dates reported for them:
- Flight 13: first targeted for July 16, Space.com reported. That attempt was aborted and SpaceX moved to July 23, Space.com reported. It lifted off on July 24, eight days after the first date.
- Flight 14: tentatively the end of August (Musk, August 4), then no earlier than September 22 (NASASpaceflight, September 14), then September 28 (Space.com, September 17). It flew on September 28, about four weeks after the first date.
A date only counts as firm once SpaceX announces it.
Signs that a launch is close
These are the steps that came before Flight 14, as Teslarati reported them. None of the reports checked mention any of them for Flight 15 yet.
- A full rehearsal. SpaceX ran a wet dress rehearsal with Booster 21 and Ship 41 on September 24, four days before launch.
- The FAA license. The FAA issued the modified license for the orbital flight late on Saturday, September 26, two days before the Monday launch. A license can arrive at the last minute.
- A launch window and beach closures. The window was 75 minutes long and opened at 7:15 a.m. Central. Boca Chica Beach closures were also scheduled for September 29 and 30 as backup dates.
All 14 flights so far
Times are UTC. Starbase is on US Central time, which is UTC-5 until early November. Flights 12 and 13 lifted off at about 5:30 and 5:51 p.m. there, and Flight 14 at 7:48 a.m., so the time of day varies. SpaceX publishes the window once it sets a date.
| Flight | Launch (UTC) | Booster / Ship | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 20, 2023, 13:33 | B7 / S24 | Lost control on ascent and was destroyed by the flight termination system. The launch mount was badly damaged. |
| 2 | Nov 18, 2023, 13:02 | B9 / S25 | First hot staging. The booster was lost after separation. The ship was destroyed by the flight termination system after it lost communications. |
| 3 | Mar 14, 2024, 13:25 | B10 / S28 | The ship reached space and tested moving propellant between its own tanks, but was lost on reentry. The booster was lost just above the water. |
| 4 | Jun 6, 2024, 12:50 | B11 / S29 | First controlled splashdowns of both stages: the booster in the Gulf of Mexico and the ship in the Indian Ocean. |
| 5 | Oct 13, 2024, 12:25 | B12 / S30 | First catch of a Super Heavy booster by the tower. The ship splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean. |
| 6 | Nov 19, 2024, 22:00 | B13 / S31 | The booster catch was called off and it splashed down in the Gulf. The ship relit an engine in space and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. |
| 7 | Jan 16, 2025, 22:37 | B14-1 / S33 | First Block 2 ship, lost after a propellant leak. The booster was caught. |
| 8 | Mar 6, 2025, 23:31 | B15-1 / S34 | The ship lost control after engines shut down. The booster was caught. |
| 9 | May 27, 2025, 23:36 | B14-2 / S35 | First reused booster, lost before splashdown. The ship leaked fuel, lost control and broke up over the Indian Ocean. |
| 10 | Aug 26, 2025, 23:30 | B16 / S37 | The ship deployed eight Starlink simulators, relit an engine and splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean. The booster splashed down in the Gulf. |
| 11 | Oct 13, 2025, 23:23 | B15-2 / S38 | Last Block 2 flight and last from Pad 1. The ship landed on target in the Indian Ocean. |
| 12 | May 22, 2026, 22:30 | B19 / S39 | First Block 3 vehicles and first use of Pad 2. The booster hit the water at high speed after engine relight failures. The ship deployed 22 satellites (20 simulators and two modified Starlinks) and made a controlled splashdown. |
| 13 | Jul 24, 2026, 22:51 | B20 / S40 | First Starlink V3 satellites deployed, 20 of them on a suborbital path. The booster hit the water at high speed. The ship made a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean and survived tipping over. |
| 14 | Sep 28, 2026, 12:48 | B21 / S41 | First orbital flight. The ship deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites and came back after about three hours. The booster made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf. |
Outcomes are summarized from the Wikipedia list of Starship launches.
What happened on Flight 14
- It launched on September 28 at 12:48 UTC (8:48 a.m. EDT, 7:48 a.m. Central) from Starbase, Texas.
- One of Ship 41's six Raptor engines shut down early. After engineers confirmed enough redundancy, SpaceX went ahead with the burn that put Ship in orbit, per Wikipedia's summary of Reuters and other reports.
- Ship reached orbit for the first time and deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites it carried.
- The Super Heavy booster made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, although several of its engines shut down on the way down.
- SpaceX cut a planned flight of nearly 10 hours to about three. Ship splashed down in the northern Pacific 3 hours 8 minutes after liftoff and then exploded on the water, according to Space.com and Astronomy.
How to watch
SpaceX livestreams Starship flights, and its X account, @SpaceX, carried updates during Flight 14. Check there for an announcement. The official program page is spacex.com/vehicles/starship. If SpaceX announces a date and a window, this page will be updated with the time in major cities.
What comes after Flight 15
- Flight 16: provisionally October 30 or later, a Starlink mission from pad 39A in Florida. NASASpaceflight called that date "super provisional".
- Florida pad 39A: SpaceX's Julianna Scheiman said on October 1 that "things are going super well at 39A", that the new Starship tower is nearly complete and that the work is moving into acceptance and operational testing. She also said SpaceX plans at least one more Starship test flight from Starbase before flying from Kennedy Space Center, so the first Florida launch could come as soon as Flight 16, Space.com reported on October 7.
- More pads: SpaceX is building three Starship pads on Florida's Space Coast and plans to break ground on a 12-pad Starship Louisiana complex in 2027, Space.com says.
- Refueling in orbit: SpaceX has not yet moved propellant from one Starship to another in space. Space.com says it may try on Flight 15, but calls that speculation until SpaceX describes the mission.
Why it matters
NASA picked Starship's upper stage as the first crewed lander for Artemis. Space.com says NASA plans the crewed Artemis III mission for mid-2027, with Orion docking with Ship in Earth orbit, and a lunar landing on Artemis IV in 2028. NASA has said it may fly Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander on Artemis III or IV if Ship is not ready. Before then, SpaceX still has to show it can catch a Ship and move fuel between two Starships in orbit.
Sources
- Space.com: Starship just reached orbit for the 1st time. What's next? (September 29)
- Space.com: SpaceX wants to launch next Starship this month, Musk says (August 4)
- Teslarati: SpaceX just got the green light Starship has waited years for (September 27)
- Wikipedia: List of Starship launches
- Space.com: Starship Flight 14 and Astronomy: Starship reaches orbit on 14th test flight
