SpaceX plans Starship catch attempt on Flight 15 and targets weekly launch cadence by 2027

SpaceX said its upcoming 15th test flight of the Starship system, slated for November, will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage at the company’s launch site in South Texas. The company expects the Federal Aviation Administration to grant a license that permits a return-to-launch-site trajectory and tower catches for both stages, according to President and COO Gwynne Shotwell.

Elon Musk indicated that the data gathered from the previous flight makes a successful catch "more likely than not," and noted that the firm has sufficient hardware to absorb any failures. Following the November flight, SpaceX plans to fly a Starship upper stage again early next year and to conduct a long-delayed in-orbit refueling test in early 2027.

The refueling demonstration is intended to provide data on fuel transfer efficiency and boil-off rates of liquid oxygen and methane, information that will inform launch requirements for NASA’s Artemis lunar missions. Musk also projected that Starship could achieve a weekly launch cadence in the first half of 2027 and increase to twice weekly later in the year, contingent on achieving rapid and complete reusability.

"The rate at which we launch Starship will increase dramatically as we solve rapid and complete reusability," Musk said.

Shotwell added that SpaceX will continue deploying its next-generation Starlink V3 satellites and Starmind data-center prototypes in 2027, focusing on internal payloads. The company did not discuss the throttling of Starlink services for Ukraine during the earnings call.