Against all odds, SpaceX finally tugs Starship into port after 24 days at sea

SpaceX’s most recent Starship test flight may have ended July 24, but its mission isn’t over yet.

The spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean intact after flying halfway around the world from SpaceX’s launch base in South Texas. Engineers expected the ship’s life to end with a fiery disintegration after toppling over, just as past Starships have done following splashdown.

Numerous onboard sensors and cameras, along with buoys and drones in position at the splashdown zone, have provided important data for SpaceX to assess the performance of the ship’s heat shield after each test flight, so officials accepted the post-flight conflagrations. On July 24, Starship tipped over and remained intact, surprising just about everyone.

Engineers have reams of data from all 13 test flights of Starship and its giant booster rocket, known as the Super Heavy. But there’s no match for inspecting hardware after returning from space. SpaceX routinely recovers and reuses Falcon 9 booster stages with near-flawless performance. The handful of minor failures with the Falcon 9 have centered on the rocket’s single-use upper stage.

Hardware rich

So, getting Starship back in one piece is a boon. A recovery ship towed the spacecraft engine-first several hundred miles across the Indian Ocean to Christmas Island, an Australian territory. SpaceX announced the ship’s arrival just off the coast of Christmas Island on Tuesday.

“A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to Starbase,” SpaceX wrote on X.

SpaceX hasn’t said how exactly it might get the spacecraft back to Starbase, the company’s Starship development site and launch base in South Texas, more than 10,000 miles from Christmas Island. It would have to travel by sea. Starship, more than 170 feet (52 meters) long and 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter, is too large to fit into any aircraft in one piece.