A Significant Milestone for Space Exploration

Roughly three months following a successful space launch and a challenging maritime recovery mission, the first Starship upper stage to endure an ocean splashdown has finally arrived back at the SpaceX Starbase facility in South Texas. The company recently shared visual updates of 'Ship 40,' which completed its 13th flight test, as it was secured inside the site's Megabay hangar.


Unprecedented Engineering Data

Ship 40 is unique as the first upper stage to be retrieved after a space flight, providing SpaceX teams with a rare chance to examine hardware that withstood the extreme forces of atmospheric reentry. On October 13, the company stated via social media: «It will provide first-of-its-kind data on a flown Starship heatshield, Raptor engines, avionics, and more.»


The Journey Home

The spacecraft initially launched on July 24, mounted atop a Super Heavy booster. Unlike previous missions where the upper stages were lost or destroyed upon impact with the water, Ship 40 maintained structural integrity after its controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This prompted an extensive recovery operation:

  • Towing Phase: Despite initial skepticism from CEO Elon Musk regarding the feasibility of the operation, the 171-foot-tall stage was towed across turbulent waters for 24 days.
  • Initial Inspection: Upon reaching the calmer waters off Australia’s Christmas Island, engineers conducted preliminary inspections and collected heat shield samples from the vehicle’s underbelly.
  • Maritime Transport: The vessel was loaded onto the semi-submersible transport ship «Forte» for the long journey back to the United States.

Future Implications for Reusability

The return of the vehicle to the Port of Brownsville on October 7 and its subsequent move into the Megabay marks a pivotal step in SpaceX’s goal to create a fully and rapidly reusable launch system. While the company has already mastered the mechanical capture of Super Heavy boosters at the launch tower, it has not yet landed an upper stage back at the site under its own power. Insights gained from analyzing Ship 40 will be instrumental in refining the systems required for such precision landings.


While later iterations like Ship 41 have continued test operations—including the deployment of Starlink satellites—the examination of Ship 40 provides a foundation for upcoming milestones. Elon Musk has suggested that a future mission could attempt to 'catch' the upper stage using the launch tower's mechanical arms, a feat that would further demonstrate the viability of Starship as a sustainable, reusable transport platform.