The latest flight test comes roughly a month after the Super Heavy booster was successfully caught by two robotic arms and returned to the launch site during the Starship's fifth flight test. The sixth flight test hopes to build on that momentum with upgrades made to both hardware and software controls.

SpaceX's Starship megarocket has come together ahead of its sixth-ever test flight next week. SpaceX has stacked Starship 's two elements — the Super Heavy booster and Ship upper-stage spacecraft — on the orbital launch mount at its Starbase site in South Texas.

SpaceX is targeting Sunday, November 17 for a Falcon 9 launch of 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.