SpaceX’s Starship Ship 42 completed the deployment of all 26 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit on Flight 15 and remained healthy with an intact heatshield nearly seven hours into the mission, while Super Heavy Booster 22 erupted in an explosion upon splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico after its launch tower catch was aborted. SpaceX teams are monitoring the spacecraft as it circles Earth every 90 minutes during a 21 hour coast phase ahead of its first planned return and tower catch at Starbase in South Texas about 22.5 hours after liftoff.

The 26 deployed satellites add up to 26 terabits per second of capacity to the Starlink constellation, equivalent to 10 Falcon 9 launches of V2 Mini spacecraft, and Elon Musk said future Starship missions will carry more than 50 terabits per second of bandwidth to orbit. Three of the satellites carry cameras to inspect Ship 42’s heatshield before flight controllers decide whether to clear a single engine deorbit burn at roughly 21 hours and 36 minutes into the flight or use early deorbit options in the Pacific Ocean.

Flight 15 launched on Nov 13, 46 days after Flight 14 first reached orbit and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Sept 28. SpaceX called off the first catch attempt of a V3 Super Heavy booster minutes after liftoff due to a technical issue early in the flight, ending its bid to recover both stages on the same mission.