Nearly a month after Starship's thirteenth integrated test flight, Ship 40 is still very much in the story. The 52-meter vehicle — which survived a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24 — is now under tow and approaching Christmas Island, according to boat trackers and a report from NASASpaceflight. It's the first time SpaceX has attempted to recover a Starship upper stage from the ocean, and the operation is proving to be anything but routine.
What exactly happened to Ship 40 after Flight 13?
Ship 40 flew as the upper stage on Starship's thirteenth fully integrated test flight on July 24, 2026. The mission ended with a controlled soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean — a deliberate choice, not a failure. Critically, the vehicle remained intact and buoyant after landing, which opened the door for a recovery attempt. Four days later, on July 28, Elon Musk publicly confirmed that SpaceX would try to retrieve the vehicle from the ocean rather than let it sink.
Why is it being towed to Christmas Island instead of back to Boca Chica?
Rough seas in the Indian Ocean complicated the recovery operation significantly. According to reports, the conditions were severe enough that some vessels in the recovery fleet diverted to Christmas Island for shelter. The island — a small Australian territory in the eastern Indian Ocean — appears to be serving as a staging point for the tow rather than a final destination. Whether SpaceX plans to conduct any inspection or refurbishment work there, or simply wait for conditions to improve before the next leg of the journey, has not been officially confirmed.
Has SpaceX recovered a Starship from the ocean before?
No. This is an entirely new frontier for the program. SpaceX has successfully caught Super Heavy boosters at the Mechazilla tower arms at Starbase, but Ship 40 represents the first attempt to retrieve a Starship upper stage after an ocean splashdown. The engineering challenge is considerable — Ship 40 is roughly 52 meters long and was designed primarily for reuse via tower catch, not ocean recovery. The fact that it survived the splashdown intact is itself a significant data point for the program.
What are the challenges at Christmas Island specifically?
Christmas Island's port infrastructure was not built with a 52-meter rocket stage in mind. Reports and community discussions have flagged potential limitations around dock capacity, crane availability, and the logistics of handling a vehicle of this scale in a remote location. SpaceX has not issued an official statement detailing their plan for the island stop, so the precise next steps remain unclear. It's worth noting that the tow itself — crossing open ocean with a buoyant but battle-tested rocket — is already a logistical achievement.
What does this mean for the Starship program going forward?
If SpaceX can successfully recover Ship 40 and return it to Starbase for inspection, the data gathered from a post-splashdown vehicle would be enormously valuable. Engineers would be able to assess heat shield condition, structural integrity, and any systems degradation from the ocean environment — all of which feeds directly into future vehicle design and the eventual goal of full rapid reusability. Even if Ship 40 is never reflown, a successful recovery would validate the ocean-landing option as a viable contingency for missions where a tower catch isn't possible.
The tow is slow — Christmas Island sits roughly in the middle of the Indian Ocean relative to the splashdown zone — and SpaceX hasn't given a timeline for when Ship 40 might reach its next port of call. For now, the program's attention is split between whatever is being prepared at Starbase for the next flight and this quiet, methodical effort to bring a piece of spaceflight history home. Follow our SpaceX coverage for updates as the recovery progresses.
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Sources & reporting notes
The links below identify the material source records used for this report.
- @NASASpaceflight on X (2026-08-18T02:26:31.000Z) — Direct source
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