Can SpaceX catch a spaceship with chopsticks on Flight 15?

The full story behind my Short: Flight 15 aims to catch both Super Heavy Booster 22 and Ship 42 — the first Ship catch try after three prior booster catches. B22 static-fired 25 Oct 2026; S42 on 27 Oct. FAA licence pending; no launch date set.

FAA licence pending and no launch date has been set. Musk has mentioned a November target in earnings remarks, but nothing is confirmed until SpaceX announces it. This page is not advice.

The short version

Flight 15 is lined up as SpaceX's first attempt to catch both Starship stages with the launch-tower chopsticks — including the first-ever Ship catch — after three successful booster catches [1][2][3].

B2233-engine static fire 25 Oct 2026
S42six-engine static fire 27 Oct 2026
Ship catchfirst attempt on Flight 15
FAAlicence pending · no date set

What they found

Per SpaceX posts reported by Space.com, Booster 22 completed a full-duration 33-engine static fire on 25 October 2026, and Ship 42 completed a full-duration six-engine static fire (plus a single-Raptor deorbit-burn simulation) across 26–27 October, announced complete on 28 October. SpaceNews (20 Oct) and Space.com coverage of Musk's earnings remarks describe the plan to recover both stages on the next flight, pending regulatory approval. The tower arms have already caught Super Heavy three times; they have not yet tried a Ship catch [1][2][3][4].

Limits and caveats

  • No date yet. FAA licence pending; SpaceX has not announced a launch date.
  • Hardware ≠ flight. Static fires are ground tests; flight success is not guaranteed.
  • Illustrative imagery. Photos are Wikimedia Commons / NASA PD; catch and profile sketches are original labelled line art, not to scale.

Watch the Short

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Why it matters

Catching both stages at the tower is the path SpaceX describes for rapid full reuse — a concrete engineering milestone if Flight 15 pulls it off.

Full narration (transcript)

SpaceX is about to try catching a spaceship out of the sky with chopsticks. Flight fifteen aims to catch both the Super Heavy booster and, for the first time ever, the Starship upper stage — the Ship itself. Booster twenty-two finished a full-duration thirty-three-engine static fire on the twenty-fifth of October. Ship forty-two finished its six-engine static fire on the twenty-seventh of October. The tower arms — the chopsticks — have already caught a returning booster three times. They have never caught a Ship. A successful Ship catch would be a huge step toward a fully reusable Starship, with both stages flying again quickly. The FAA licence is still pending, and SpaceX has not set a launch date. Watch SpaceX for the official go — nothing is confirmed until they announce it themselves. Follow the link to the main website for much deeper information.

Sources

  1. [1] Space.com — Ship 42 static fires ahead of Flight 15. https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-fires-up-starship-upper-stage-ahead-of-landmark-flight-15-test-launch-video
  2. [2] Space.com — Booster 22 33-engine static fire (25 Oct 2026). https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-ignites-giant-super-heavy-booster-engines-ahead-of-daring-starship-launch-video
  3. [3] SpaceNews — Jeff Foust (20 Oct 2026). SpaceX plans Starship upper stage catch on next launch. https://spacenews.com/spacex-plans-starship-upper-stage-catch-on-next-launch/
  4. [4] Tesla News Wire (2 Nov 2026). Flight 15 static fires complete; FAA licence pending; no launch date. https://teslanewswire.com/articles/starship-flight-15-booster-ship-static-fires-complete-faa-licence-pending-no-launch-date-nov-2-2026

Credits

Images via Wikimedia Commons (illustrative unless stated): SpaceX Starship ignition during IFT-5.jpg (Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0); Starship Booster Return on Final Approach (54063904149).jpg (Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0); NASA Marshall visit to Super Heavy booster.jpg (NASA, Public domain); Starship-IFT2-ascent.jpg (Osunpokeh, CC BY-SA 4.0); Own sketch: tower chopsticks catching booster (Nasper Mushonga, own work); Own sketch: tower chopsticks catching Ship (first try) (Nasper Mushonga, own work); Own sketch: Flight 15 profile catch both (Nasper Mushonga, own work); Tower + Booster.jpg (Jenny Hautmann, CC BY-SA 4.0). On-screen graphics: own.

AI voice note: the narration in the Short is an AI clone of my own voice (Chatterbox TTS by Resemble AI, MIT licence), used with my consent. I wrote the script and checked the figures against the sources above.

This page is general information, not medical or financial advice.