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Starship Flight 15 launched from Boca Chica at 4:48 p.m. Friday for the vehicle’s second orbital test flight.
Mission plans include the first attempt to land a Starship back at the launch site, scheduled to occur approximately 22 hours after launch and 14 orbits around the Earth if everything goes according to plan.
The mission also called for the stage-one Super Heavy booster rocket to return to the launch pad about 6 minutes after launch and following separation from the stage-two Starship. That attempt was aborted.
Instead, SpaceX opted to land Super Heavy offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX has retrieved the booster at the launch site on three occasions previously.
Following stage separation, Starship continued with six out of six engines lit on a trajectory over the Gulf as it climbed on its way to orbit at an altitude of roughly 171 miles.
The results of the company’s attempt to also bring Starship back to the pad won’t be known until tomorrow afternoon, unless the mission is shortened due to technical issues, which caused SpaceX to cut short its Flight 14 Starship orbital test on Sept. 28.
“If successful, this will mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch system and a breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket,” the company said.
“Starship will only execute a return to launch site if the flight control team has ensured that the vehicle systems critical for reentry maneuvers and final landing burn and tower approach are healthy,” SpaceX said.
The Flight 15 mission also includes the deployment of 26 of the latest-version Starlink satellites.