SpaceX Fires All 33 Engines on the Booster Elon Musk Wants to Catch

Image: SpaceX

SpaceX fired all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster for Starship Flight 15 on Sunday, October 25, running the test for its full planned duration at Starbase in Texas. It is the same flight where Elon Musk says SpaceX will try to catch both the booster and the ship with the launch tower.

In a video posted to X at 12:49 PM PT, the company called it a “full duration 33-engine static fire for the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 15.” The clip shows the booster lighting up on the pad as a wall of steam and exhaust rolls across the site. Musk reposted it a few hours later with a short note of his own.

Full duration 33-engine static fire for the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 15 pic.twitter.com/7eqbC4h0Fh

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 25, 2026

A static fire holds the vehicle down on the pad while every engine runs, so engineers can check the booster’s plumbing, engines and ground systems before it is cleared to fly. Getting all 33 Raptors through a full-length burn is one of the last major hardware checks before a launch date, and it means the booster side of Flight 15 is in good shape.

Musk set the bar high on SpaceX’s third quarter earnings call on October 20. “For Flight 15, which we expect to happen next month, we’re going to attempt to catch both the booster and the ship,” he said, adding that a success “will be the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered.” SpaceX has caught Super Heavy boosters with the tower’s arms before, but it has never caught the Starship upper stage.

Even so, Musk was upfront about the odds. He said success “is not guaranteed on these first flights,” but that it is “more likely than not” to work, and that SpaceX has a steady run of Starship flights planned through the end of the year. He expects Starship to fly weekly at some point in the first half of 2027, a pace the FAA has already put on the table for Starbase.

Starship Flight 15 static fire https://t.co/KHi3mBV79r

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2026

SpaceX has not yet announced a launch date for Flight 15. President Gwynne Shotwell said on the same call that the company expects its FAA license “to include return to launch site and tower catch for both stages,” which would clear the way for the double catch attempt. The next milestones to look for are a ship static fire and the stacking of both stages on the pad, along with more on what the ship will carry. A fully reusable Starship also matters well beyond Starbase, since NASA is counting on the vehicle and recently shared a first look inside the Starship Moon cabin ahead of 2027 tests.

Do you think SpaceX pulls off catching both stages on its first try?