SpaceX Guides 52-Metre Ship 40 to Christmas Island After 24 Days at Sea
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 19
SpaceX Guides 52-Metre Ship 40 to Christmas Island After 24 Days at Sea
3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 19
Summary
18 August brought a first for Starship: SpaceX said its recovery team guided Ship 40 to calmer waters off Christmas Island after the upper stage survived splashdown and 24 days afloat.
Ship 40 was never meant to be salvaged after Flight 13 on 24 July, making the operation an improvised tow of a damaged, partly submerged vehicle through rough Indian Ocean conditions that Musk had said looked unlikely to succeed.
The spacecraft is intact only in the limited sense that it remained one recognizable 52-metre structure; photos show missing and abraded heat-shield tiles, and it is still floating rather than back on land or in Texas.
Engineers are now heading to the remote Australian territory to inspect tanks, attachment points, trapped water and exterior damage before deciding whether the stage can be lifted and transported to Starbase.
For SpaceX, the prize is forensic hardware rather than proof of rapid reuse: Ship 40 is the first Starship upper stage recovered largely whole after returning from space, offering physical evidence telemetry alone could not provide.
What critical secrets will engineers uncover from Starship's battered heat shield after it survived both atmospheric reentry and nearly a month at sea?
Will recovering this massive rocket stage finally prove SpaceX's bold claim of slashing space travel costs to under $100 per kilogram?
Could the hidden damage discovered on this recovered Starship actually force NASA to seek a simpler backup plan for the Artemis lunar missions?