Starship lives! SpaceX craft arrives at Christmas Island after 24-day ocean ordeal

Photo: Ship 40 floating just off Christmas Island after approximately 24 days at sea following Starship Flight 13. The vehicle remained in the water while engineers prepared to inspect it in calmer conditions. Photo credit: SpaceX. Article by Josh Dinner. Space – August 18, 2026.

The seas have been kind, or at least kinder than expected, to SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft, as it’s been tugged through the Indian Ocean to friendlier tides. Ship 40, the upper stage that flew on Starship’s Flight 13 test launch, performed the vehicle’s first successful intact ocean splashdown at the end of its mission on July 24, after lifting off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The spacecraft landed in the Indian Ocean as planned and has since become the focus of the SpaceX Recovery team, tasked with hauling it to port. […]

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