Starship Flight 15 still has no official date: what is set and what is not

TL;DR: SpaceX has not announced a date for Starship Flight 15, the first attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the ship with the launch tower. Both vehicles have finished static fires. The latest reported target is no earlier than November 12, 2026, and the FAA has not yet shown a Flight 15 license decision.

What is confirmed

• Ship 42 finished its static fires. In a post on X on October 28, 2026, SpaceX said the Starship preparing for Flight 15 "performed a full duration, six-engine static fire, and fired a single Raptor engine to simulate a deorbit burn."
• Booster 22 has fired and is off the mount. NASASpaceflight reported on October 26 that Booster 22 was lifted off Pad 2 "following its successful Static Fire test."
• The plan is a double catch. Elon Musk said on SpaceX's third-quarter call that if both catches work, "it will be the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered," according to The Independent. He also said it is "more likely than not" to succeed, and that SpaceX would keep flying if it does not.

What is reported, not confirmed

• The date. On October 29, 2026, the SpaceNotices account on X said an air-traffic planning slide now lists Flight 15 as no earlier than November 12. NASASpaceflight posted the same day that the flight had made a "slight move to the right" and that approval for the catches was likely coming into play. This is a planning marker, not a SpaceX launch date.
• The license. Starlust reports that SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said she expects the license to include a return to the launch site and a tower catch for both stages. The FAA's Starship project page, last updated October 22, 2026, lists no Flight 15 license decision. That page may not reflect anything newer.

Why this flight matters

SpaceX has already caught a Super Heavy booster on three earlier flights, per The Independent. It has never tried to catch the ship. A ship catch means bringing the upper stage back from orbit, through reentry, and into the tower arms at Starbase.

Pad Zero's Starship log lists Flight 14 on September 28, 2026 as the first Starship to reach orbit, with 26 Starlink V3 satellites released (as of October 8, 2026, reported).

What to watch next

• An official date or a countdown from SpaceX.
• An FAA license modification covering the return-to-launch-site profile.
• Launch Library and air-traffic planning slides, which have moved before.

Launch dates for a test flight move often. Check SpaceX's own posts on the day.