Starship Upper Stage Brought Back to Shore in a SpaceX First

A Milestone Recovery for Starship

According to НВ — Техно: After splashing down in the Indian Ocean, the upper stage of SpaceX's Starship has been recovered and brought back to dry land. The 52-meter vehicle reached Christmas Island, Australia, on August 21 at 07:30, following a 24-day tow across the sea. The vehicle had launched from Starbase in Texas on July 24 as part of the 13th test flight of the program. That mission saw the Super Heavy booster come down hard in the Gulf of Mexico after a partial failure in its engine-start sequence, while the upper stage, designated Ship 40, made a controlled water landing and came through intact.

The Tow and the Next Flight

On July 28, Elon Musk stated on X that a dedicated recovery vessel was being sent to retrieve the rocket. The tow ran for several hundred kilometers, and a SpaceX engineering team is now en route to carry out further inspections in more sheltered conditions before attempting to move the vehicle to Starbase. The 14th Starship flight is expected in late August or early September and will mark the craft's first attempt to place cargo into orbit. This recovery is a notable step for the test campaign, showing that the company can react to unplanned events and salvage major hardware.