SpaceX's Starship 40 has been successfully recovered from the Indian Ocean near Christmas Island, marking another step forward in the program's effort to reuse its massive upper-stage vehicles. The recovery was carried out with the help of the Boskalis semi-submersible vessel Forte, and the ship is now en route back to Starbase in Texas — a journey that will take several weeks.
The use of a semi-submersible ship for the retrieval — a vessel type capable of partially submerging its deck to float heavy cargo aboard — reflects the logistical complexity of recovering a vehicle that splashed down far from any SpaceX-controlled port. Getting Ship 40 back to Starbase intact is the prerequisite for any post-flight inspection and potential reflight assessment. How much of the hardware is reusable after an ocean recovery remains an open question, but the fact that the vehicle was retrieved at all keeps that option on the table. For more on the Starship program, see our SpaceX coverage.
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Sources & reporting notes
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- @LabPadre on X (2026-08-26T15:36:54.000Z) — Direct source
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