SpaceX Loads Starship's Recovered Upper Stage Onto Ship in Indian Ocean

SpaceX has loaded the upper stage that flew on Starship's 13th test flight onto a "semi-submersible" ship in the Indian Ocean, off Christmas Island, the company said Aug. 27, 2026. The stage, called Ship, stands 171 feet (52 meters) tall. It splashed down on July 24, ending the test flight, and will travel back to SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, a trip expected to take several months.

Flight 13 lifted off from Starbase and sent Ship on an hour-long suborbital flight. Ship deployed 20 of SpaceX's Starlink "Version 3" satellites as planned and relit one of its six Raptor engines in space. It then splashed down softly off Western Australia and survived intact -- the first time a Starship upper stage has done so. On every previous flight, the stage either broke apart during reentry or exploded after splashdown, when it toppled onto its side. Separately, the rocket's Super Heavy booster attempted a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico during the same flight but suffered engine problems and hit the water hard.

SpaceX said a close inspection of Ship could reveal how its heat shield performed during reentry, data that could aid Starship's development toward being fully and rapidly reusable. Towing Ship to shore initially looked unlikely to succeed. On Aug. 7, SpaceX cited "challenging conditions and increasingly rough seas," and founder and CEO Elon Musk wrote on X that "ship recovery is not looking good right now."

SpaceX persevered and towed Ship to Christmas Island, an Australian territory about 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) northwest of Broome. Engineers spent several days inspecting the vehicle there, collecting heat shield samples and reentry data, with improvements now planned for future vehicles, SpaceX said.

The semi-submersible vessel that recovered Ship lowers its deck underwater to take on heavy floating payloads, then rises to carry them; it is now en route to Texas.