SpaceX Plans to Catch Starship and Super Heavy, Space Wave Japan Says

SpaceX plans to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship second stage using launch tower arms during Starship Flight 15.

Liftoff is scheduled for Friday, November 13th in Texas, with a 75-minute window starting at 4:45 PM local time, according to Space Wave Japan. In Japan Standard Time, the launch runs from 7:45 AM to 9:00 AM on Saturday, November 14th.

Two minutes and 21 seconds after liftoff, the second stage will ignite its engines while still connected to the first stage in a hot-staging maneuver before separating immediately, Space Wave Japan reported. The Super Heavy booster will then reorient, execute a boostback burn to return to the launch site, and decelerate with a landing burn.

The launch tower arms are scheduled to catch the first stage 6 minutes and 35 seconds after liftoff. This is the first attempt to recover a V3 first stage at the tower, following older V1 successes, according to Space Wave Japan.

The second stage will shut down and reignite its engines 26 minutes and 10 seconds after liftoff to enter Earth orbit. Deployment of 26 Starlink V3 satellites is scheduled to run from 35 minutes and 1 second to 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 40 seconds after liftoff, as detailed by Space Wave Japan.

Three of the deployed satellites carry cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield. The resulting images assist the flight control team to decide whether to return the second stage to the launch site after it orbits Earth roughly 14 times at an altitude of about 275 kilometers.

If the vehicle meets return conditions, engines will fire 21 hours, 35 minutes, and 57 seconds after liftoff to decelerate and move into a trajectory to return to the atmosphere, which happens 22 hours, 10 minutes, and 46 seconds after liftoff, according to Space Wave Japan. Engines will ignite before reaching the tower to bring the spacecraft vertical.

The launch tower arms are scheduled to catch the second stage 22 hours, 32 minutes, and 34 seconds after liftoff. Takae Yamaguchi of Space Wave Japan captured the anticipation on X, writing:

Takae Yamaguchi of Space Wave Japan expressed anticipation for seeing the launch tower catch Starship on Flight 15, saying this long-awaited moment would mark a milestone in the mission to bring both stages of the orbital rocket back to the launch tower.

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