SpaceX has suffered a setback in its effort to fully reuse its Starship megarocket after a Super Heavy booster malfunctioned during Starship Flight 15, forcing the company to abandon a planned catch at the launch tower. The booster separated from the Ship upper stage, then an automatic abort sent it towards the Gulf of Mexico rather than back to the launch site in South Texas.

The booster made an offshore landing, ending its recovery attempt without the tower catch. The planned catch was to be made by two giant mechanical arms known as Chopsticks at Starbase, and the incident ended SpaceX's plan to recover both stages of Starship during the same mission. SpaceX has not yet publicly detailed what went wrong with the upgraded Super Heavy V3 booster or which system triggered the abort.S2

The flight was significant because it was the first V3 Super Heavy to attempt a return for a tower catch. SpaceX had previously recovered three earlier Super Heavy boosters and is working towards reusing both stages. Catching the booster at the tower could reduce the need for ocean recovery and speed preparations for another flight, making rapid reuse central to the company's ambition of a fully reusable launch system.S2S1

The Ship upper stage is continuing a separate orbital mission. Starship is expected to deploy 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites and complete approximately 14 orbits before returning to Starbase. SpaceX is still targeting a tower catch of the Ship, which would be the first recovery of an orbital Starship upper stage at the launch site, with the attempt expected at 2:45 am IST on November 15. The booster's offshore landing does not determine the outcome of that attempt.S2