Story continues after Advertisements

SpaceX recovers intact Starship upper stage after 24 days at sea, plans return to Starbase in Texas!

SpaceX has successfully guided the upper stage of its Starship vehicle, known as Ship 40, to calmer waters off Christmas Island, Australia, after it splashed down intact in the Indian Ocean following Flight 13. The company is now preparing to attempt its return to Starbase in South Texas for further analysis.

The vehicle launched on July 24, 2026, from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas. After stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico, while the Ship 40 upper stage flew halfway around the world on a suborbital trajectory. It executed a controlled reentry, landing burn, and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean—the first time a Starship upper stage remained intact and afloat after returning from space rather than breaking up or exploding.

Recovery teams, including vessels such as the Go Australis, Normand Ranger, and Skimmer Tide, began efforts to secure and tow the roughly 171-foot-tall (52-meter), 30-foot-diameter spacecraft. It was towed engine-first across several hundred miles of ocean. Rough seas and high winds complicated the operation; at one point in early August, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that recovery “is not looking good right now,” though teams obtained close-up imagery of the heat shield and engines.

On August 18, 2026, SpaceX announced that after approximately 24 days at sea, the recovery team had successfully guided Ship 40 to a location just off Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. “A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to Starbase,” the company posted. Musk shared the update, noting that “Starship Flight 13 is being recovered from sea.”

The vehicle is far too large to transport by air in one piece and must travel by sea for the more than 10,000-mile journey back to Starbase. Prolonged exposure to saltwater has almost certainly rendered it unusable for future flights due to corrosion of engines, structure, and electronics. However, engineers value the hardware for detailed post-flight study of the heat shield tiles, structure, and other systems to inform improvements on upcoming vehicles.

This recovery marks a milestone in SpaceX’s iterative testing program. The company ultimately aims to catch returning Starships directly at the launch tower using mechanical arms (often called “chopsticks” or Mechazilla) for rapid reuse, eliminating the need for ocean recoveries on operational flights. Preparations for the next test flight continue in parallel.

Author’s note: Thanks for reading Cosmic Chronicles. Write your thoughts in the comment section below. If you have story suggestions or feedback, Direct Message me on social media 𝕏: Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo @JaneidyEve. Read the most recent stories featured below. Thank You.