Starship Starlink Group 31-2 (Starship Flight 15) — launch date, time, visibility & where to look

15th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle and 4th flight of Starship V3. Second Starship flight to deploy satellites (a group of Starlink satellites known as Starlink Group 31-2) into stable Low Earth Orbit and first ever to attempt returning the Starship 2nd stage back to the launch site. The ship is expected to fly at an altitude approximately 275 km above Earth and complete approximately 14 orbits around the planet for more than 22 hours, with the ship expected to attempt returning back to Starbase, Texas on its launch pad by pad arms catching. The booster’s primary test objective on Flight 15 will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing by pad arms catching. This will also be the 1st Starship V3 booster to attempt returning to its launch site. Starship will deliver 26 Starlink V3 satellites to orbit for the second time, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. Each Starlink V3 satellite will add 1 Tbps of capacity to the constellation. 3 of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heatshield and transmit imagery down to operators.

Rocket

Starship V3

Provider

SpaceX

Launch site

SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Status

To Be Confirmed

Launch time

• Nov 13, 2026, 10:45 PM UTC
• Nov 13, 2026, 5:45 PM Eastern
• Nov 13, 2026, 2:45 PM Pacific

This launch time is not yet confirmed. Rocket launches often slip by hours or days for weather, technical checks, or range scheduling; treat the time above as a target and re-check close to the date.

Visibility map: how far away can you see it?

The shaded zones show where Starship V3 is expected to be visible, following its modeled east flight path rather than a simple circle around the pad — a fair-or-better view reaches roughly 2450 miles out over land. Within about 89 miles the rocket clears the horizon in the first half-minute; by T+90s it is line-of-sight from roughly 305 miles. City dots are colored by the expected view quality; the table below has the direction to look from each.

Which cities can see this launch?

Estimated visibility from major towns near US launch sites, assuming clear skies and an open horizon. The 10 most likely first:

Where to look

A rocket lifts off below the horizon for distant viewers, then climbs into view as it gains altitude and flies downrange. Closer to the pad you'll see it within seconds; a few hundred miles away it can take three to six minutes to rise over the horizon. Find an open view in the direction shown for your city and start watching at liftoff.

Official launch details More from SpaceX ↗

Before you go

• Launch times change: scrubs and delays are common. Re-check the day of.
• Clear skies matter. Low cloud near the pad or along the trajectory can hide the rocket.
• Twilight launches are the most dramatic; daytime launches are the hardest to see at distance.
• Trajectory and timing here are estimates from a representative ascent profile.

Launch data from TheSpaceDevs Launch Library 2. Page generated November 8, 2026.