Double-catch drama: Why Starship's Flight 15 is so important to SpaceX

Having reached orbit for the first time with Starship last time out, SpaceX is looking to take a huge stride toward full reusability with Flight 15 — the first attempt to catch the megarocket's Ship upper stage, as the company eyes hourly launches by 2030. SpaceX is targeting today (Nov. 13) for Starship 's 15th flight, which will lift off from the company's Starbas site in South Texas. If all goes well, the mission — which you can watch here at Space.com — will end on Saturday (Nov. 14) with the first attempt at what SpaceX itself calls the "Holy Grail of rocketry": Catching both Starship's Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage chopstick-style back at the launch pad. "If successful, this will mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system and a breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket," SpaceX wrote in its Flight 15 mission description . The 75-minute Flight 15 launch window opens today at 5:45 p.m.