Overview
- SpaceX confirmed late Tuesday that after roughly 24 days at sea its recovery team guided the upper stage from Flight 13, Ship 40, into calmer waters just offshore of Christmas Island for inspection.
- Crews battled challenging, increasingly rough seas and towed the 52‑metre vehicle at slow speeds around one to two knots using multiple support ships and air‑filled fenders to keep it afloat.
- SpaceX says engineers are en route to perform closer inspections in sheltered water before deciding whether to tow Ship 40 back to its Starbase facility in Texas for further study.
- Prolonged saltwater exposure and tipping damage make another flight unlikely for this vehicle, but photos and drone footage of the thermal protection tiles, engines and aft rim will inform fixes for heat shields, engine restarts and recovery methods.
- The recovery highlights both technical progress — Ship 40 survived a controlled reentry and deployed Starlink V3 test payloads — and remaining challenges for rapid reuse after Flight 13’s Super Heavy booster was lost at sea.