SpaceX's Starship Megarocket Launches From Texas on Its 15th Flight

SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket from Texas on Friday afternoon, November 13, on the vehicle's 15th flight. The rocket stands 407 feet tall and is described as the world's largest, according to The Guardian.

Starship has two parts. The lower stage, called Super Heavy, is a booster powered by 33 Raptor engines. The upper stage, the Starship spacecraft itself, is 171 feet tall. The two are often referred to together as Starship.

The flight was expected to take the upper stage around Earth about 14 times over 22 hours. SpaceX had also planned for both components to return to the launch tower at Starbase, its facility in south Texas, where the rocket is built, tested and launched. The Super Heavy booster, however, aborted and splashed down in the sea instead, the Guardian reported.

The attempt to catch the upper stage was the first of its kind for SpaceX on this flight. Earlier Starship tests had concentrated on recovering the booster, which is caught by mechanical arms on the tower rather than landed on legs. Catching the much larger upper stage would be a new step for the program.

The flight follows a milestone in September 2026, when SpaceX sent Starship into Earth orbit for the first time. An engine failed during the ascent on that flight, according to the same report.

The program has a wider purpose. NASA has contracted SpaceX and Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, to build lunar landers that would carry astronauts back to the Moon in 2028. Starbase is also home to SpaceX's headquarters and includes one of the world's first commercial spaceports designed for orbital missions. SpaceX has said launches from the site could reach Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.