SpaceX planned to launch its Starship rocket on November 13, 2026, from its Starbase site in South Texas and attempt for the first time to catch the spacecraft on land rather than discard it in the ocean, Reuters reported. The 407-foot-tall rocket was scheduled to lift off at 4:45 p.m. CT (2245 GMT) on its 15th flight since 2023 and its second carrying operational Starlink satellites.
SpaceX had not received a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration as of the morning of November 13, Reuters reported. The FAA, which has typically issued licenses a day before past Starship launches, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company expected to return both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage to Texas. The upper stage was expected to fall from space after 14 orbits around Earth, setting up a debut catch around 2:45 p.m. CT (2045 GMT) on November 14. SpaceX has said it would be a "breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket" if all goes as planned.
SpaceX has returned the 236-foot Super Heavy booster to its launchpad three times, most recently in March 2025. The last Starship flight, in September, reached orbit for the first time despite some engines shutting down mid-flight and ended after roughly 3 hours with an intact splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA has provided about $3.2 billion for Starship's development since selecting it in 2021 as a moon lander under the Artemis program, while SpaceX has put at least $15 billion of its own funds into the rocket, Reuters reported. NASA and SpaceX expect Starship to land humans on the moon by 2028, though analysts and industry engineers believe several testing milestones, including in-orbit fuel transfers between tanker rockets, will push that timeline back. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is also developing a moon lander, Blue Moon, for NASA under Artemis.