Follow-Up: Starship Flight 15 Booster Burst Into Flames on Its Gulf Splashdown; Ship Still in Orbit Ahead of Nov. 14 Catch Attempt
The Super Heavy booster on SpaceX's 15th Starship flight, Booster 22, burst into flames as it splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on November 13. GSM's first story, following SpaceX's own account at the time, described the booster as making a controlled soft splashdown; footage released afterward and reporting by several news agencies show the booster erupting in a fireball around touchdown, and this follow-up corrects and completes the record.
Starship lifted off at 5:47 p.m. Eastern (2:47 p.m. Pacific) on November 13 from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase in Cameron County, Texas. The booster was to return to the launch site and be caught by the tower's mechanical arms, but about six minutes into the flight an automated abort criterion diverted it to a splashdown zone in the Gulf. Long-range camera footage shows the booster suffering a structural collapse in the final seconds of descent as residual propellant ignited in a fireball; Associated Press photographs show flames after splashdown, and CBS News likewise reported that the booster burst into flames following its water landing. It was the first tower-catch attempt for the upgraded V3 Super Heavy booster; three V1 boosters were caught on earlier flights.
SpaceX has not said what triggered the abort. The upper stage, Ship 42, was unaffected: it reached orbit, deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites it carried, and is still flying a mission of more than 22 hours. Ship 42 is scheduled to return to Starbase at about 4:17 p.m. Eastern (1:17 p.m. Pacific) on November 14 for a first-ever attempt to catch a Starship ship with the launch tower, subject to vehicle health and flight conditions.
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：星舰点火升空（资料图，摄于2024年10月13日第五次综合试飞）。Steve Jurvetson 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / File photo: A Starship vehicle ignites and lifts off (fifth integrated flight test, October 13, 2024). Photo by Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-11-13Follow-Up: Starship Flight 15 Booster Burst Into Flames on Its Gulf Splashdown; Ship Still in Orbit Ahead of Nov. 14 Catch AttemptThis story
- 2026-11-14Follow-up: Starship Ship Caught by Launch Tower for the First Time as Ship 42 Returns to Starbase After About 14 Orbits in 22.5 Hours
