SpaceX Salvages Intact Starship From Indian Ocean After Month at Sea

SpaceX has recovered its latest Starship from the Indian Ocean nearly a month after launch, completing what the company described as its largest salvage operation to date. The vehicle lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on July 24 during the 13th test flight of a full-scale Starship. Unlike the company’s previous full-up tests, this vehicle completed an hourlong space-skimming flight and remained afloat and intact afterward. Recovery crews worked near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, where SpaceX shared images this week showing engineers examining the vehicle. Additional photographs showed Starship loaded onto a semisubmersible ship for transport back to Starbase. The return trip is expected to last several months. SpaceX said the recovery gives its engineers access to a large amount of data as they continue developing the spacecraft. Starship is central to Elon Musk’s plans to transport people and equipment to Mars. Before that, NASA is counting on Starship, alongside Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon lander, for potential astronaut missions to the lunar surface as early as 2028. The recovery marks an unusual phase in the development of a rocket system: instead of abandoning the test vehicle after launch, SpaceX is bringing the intact spacecraft back to Texas for further examination. The available report does not specify what condition Starship was in beyond describing it as floating and intact, or what tests engineers plan to conduct after its return.