SpaceX’s Starship Flight 15 Aborts After Guidance Glitch, Booster Splashes Down

SpaceX’s 15th Starship test flight ended in an unexpected abort when a guidance and navigation control (GNC) glitch forced the Super Heavy booster to abandon its planned mid‑air catch. The 41‑story, 33‑engine rocket lifted off from Starbase on Nov. 13, but during the booster's landing burn—when 13 Raptor engines fired to slow the vehicle—an error was detected and the flight‑termination system detonated.

The booster veered off the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms and splashed down a few feet above the Gulf of Mexico’s waves about 6.5 minutes after liftoff. The abort came after all 33 engines fired on ascent and 32 of the 33 stayed lit for the boostback burn that sent the booster back toward the pad.

When the 13‑engine landing burn began, the guidance system flagged a problem, the booster cut power, and the FTS destroyed the vehicle to prevent a crash on land. The upper stage, however, survived the event and is slated to orbit Earth 14 times before attempting a second landing at Starbase.

SpaceX’s spokesperson Dan Huot said the guidance issue appeared during the landing burn, a critical phase that keeps the booster on course for a safe touchdown.

While the company has caught Super Heavy boosters on three previous flights, this was the first attempt to catch an upper stage with the chopsticks.

The incident highlights the difficulty of landing a vehicle that has just completed a full orbital mission.

Our read: the GNC glitch suggests that the system’s reliability under the extreme conditions of a full‑mission return still needs refinement.

Until the guidance software can consistently handle the transition from orbit to landing, the promise of a fully reusable Starship remains a work in progress.

What to watch: the upper stage will complete 14 orbits before a second landing attempt, and SpaceX will decide at the 20‑hour mark whether to proceed with the pad landing or an early splashdown.

The outcome will determine whether the company can finally achieve the first complete recovery of an orbital launch system.