---
title: "SpaceX Is Getting Ready to Fly Starship SN15 Again"
description: "SpaceX's SN15 Starship prototype's job isn't over. According to a Friday tweet by CEO Elon Musk, the company \"might try to refly SN15 soon.\""
date: "2021-05-10"
modified: "2021-05-10"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-fly-starship-sn15-again"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
tags:
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "the digest"
---

# SpaceX Is Getting Ready to Fly Starship SN15 Again

![SpaceX's SN15 Starship prototype's job isn't over. According to a Friday tweet by CEO Elon Musk, the company "might try to refly SN15 soon."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/spacex-fly-starship-sn15-again.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/50906488116/" target="\_blank"\>SpaceX\</a\>\</em\>*

## Second Flight

It was a proud moment for SpaceX — the Elon Musk-led space company managed to [pull off a near-perfect launch](<https://futurism.com/spacex-landed-starship-without-exploding>) and landing of its Starship prototype SN15 last week.

Aside from a small and contained post-landing fire, SN15's maiden voyage went largely by without a hitch.

But it's job isn't over. According to a [Friday tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1390569345361883136>) by Musk, the company "might try to refly SN15 soon" — an early foray into reusability for the Moon and Mars-bound rocket.

## Successful Launch

The 165-foot prototype soared to an altitude of 6.2 miles last week above SpaceX's test site in South Texas. It also became the first full-scale prototype to make a soft landing — and not explode, [unlike its four predecessors](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-why-spacex-starship-sn11-exploded>).

Musk hailed the successful test launch as a major moment in his company's efforts to bring the first humans to the Moon and Mars, saying in [a tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1390169571466829828>) that an iterative approach to rocket building is "the fundamental technology revolution needed to make life multiplanetary."

In other words, we can expect to see many more Starship prototypes taking off in the future, many of them probably repeatedly.

## More Data

First, SN15 may now become the first full-scale prototype to be flown twice. The structure features "hundreds of design improvements across structures, avionics/software and engine" according to a [March tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1376894241792737280>) by the CEO.

Whether it will survive a second "hop" is anybody's guess. It's the first opportunity, after all, for SpaceX to test a Starship that has flown previously.

In fact, the data it collected during last week's launch made it through unscathed, as [*Teslarati* points out](<https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-spacex-to-refly-starship-sn15/>), giving the company an unfettered look at what went on — rather than picking through the wreckage.

**READ MORE:** [SpaceX's Mars prototype rocket, Starship SN15, might fly again soon](<https://www.cnet.com/news/spacexs-mars-prototype-rocket-starship-sn15-might-fly-again-soon/>) \[*CNET*\]

**More on Starship:** *[Elon Musk Celebrates Starship Landing: “Needed to Make Life Multiplanetary”](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-starship-make-life-multiplanetary>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)