SpaceX fires all 33 engines on Super Heavy ahead of Flight 15
SpaceX test-fired all 33 Super Heavy engines Oct. 25 ahead of Flight 15's planned double-stage catch attempt.
what happened
SpaceX completed a full-duration static fire of all 33 Raptor engines on Super Heavy Booster 22 at Starbase, Texas on Oct. 25, ahead of the planned Flight 15 mission. Musk said Flight 15, expected next month, will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage using the launch tower, which would be, if successful, the first full recovery of an orbital launch vehicle; he called it "more likely than not" to work but "not guaranteed," per Tesla North and Starlust.
why it matters
A clean booster static fire is a routine but necessary step before SpaceX's first attempt to recover both Starship stages in one flight, a capability that would materially cut the vehicle's per-flight cost once repeatable. Anyone planning around Starship's launch cadence or pricing should track whether the catch attempt itself succeeds next month, not just this preparatory test.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- SpaceX
- Category
- launch
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 2 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-10-25
- Published
- 2026-10-27 05:31 UTC