Elon Targets Starship Flight 15 Ship Catch in 4–6 Weeks

Elon Musk said Saturday that Starship Flight 15 is hopefully four to six weeks away, with catching the upper-stage ship as the big milestone that would mark the first full recovery of an orbital-class rocket.

Musk was speaking in a virtual interview titled “What Comes Next for Humanity” at the X Takeover fan event at Giga Texas in Austin, livestreamed by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley.

On Flight 14’s engine issue, Musk said the glitch “doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue” and that “the heat shield was robust.” He put Flight 15 “hopefully in 4-6 weeks,” and said the big milestone coming up, “which is hopefully flight 15, is to catch the ship, making it the first full recovery of an orbital class rocket.”

In the same talk, he indicated Flight 14’s engine problem was tied to engine computer software on one engine, that the team judged the risk low enough to continue to orbit, and that heat shield and engines are looking robust while the company still needs very high engine reliability. He also pointed to rocket improvements ahead of Flight 15, a window before Thanksgiving, an aim to catch both the booster and the ship on that flight, and a hope that Flight 16 could refly the Flight 15 booster and ship.

Flight 14 on September 28 was Starship’s first orbital mission and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, with some engine shutdowns during ascent already noted in SpaceX’s recap. A ship catch on Flight 15 was already the plan; the new piece Saturday is Musk’s updated timing and confidence framing right after that orbital debut.

https://teslanorth.com/2026/09/28/spacex-recaps-starship-flight-14-what-went-right-and-wrong/

SpaceX has not posted a firm Flight 15 launch date yet, and Musk framed the 4-6 week window as a hope, not a locked schedule.