Efforts Underway to Recover Starship From the Indian Ocean
The mission marked the first intact Starship upper-stage splashdown and sent SpaceX teams racing to recover the 171-foot vehicle, Musk said.
- On July 24, SpaceX's 407-foot Starship prototype completed its 13th flight, successfully splashing down intact in the Indian Ocean—the first time the upper-stage vehicle survived a test flight without exploding.
- CEO Elon Musk confirmed on July 28 that SpaceX dispatched a recovery ship to retrieve the 171-foot vehicle from the Indian Ocean, enabling engineers to examine flight data and potential anomalies.
- Former NASA engineer Dan Rasky analyzed heat shield imagery and identified cracked tiles and white streaks across the 18,000-tile array, indicating panel gaps that raise questions about durability for rapid reusability.
- The mission revealed technical challenges similar to those faced by the Space Shuttle, which relied on hand-inspected tiles that limited turnaround times; SpaceX aims for daily flight cadence despite current maintenance barriers.
- SpaceX remains under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration for the Artemis program, while Musk has stated Starship is the critical vehicle for transporting personnel and cargo to future Mars colonies.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Elon Musk’s previous Starships exploded or broke apart after splashdown; Flight 13 landed so gently that the 171-foot spacecraft remained afloat in the Indian Ocean for five days
SpaceX's Starship 40 achieved a successful splashdown landing in the Indian Ocean. The spacecraft remained intact and afloat for five days after its return. This marked a significant achievement for SpaceX's reusable rocket technology. Earlier Starship test flights experienced various failures and explosions upon landing. SpaceX is now sending a ship to recover the intact Starship 40.
Efforts underway to recover Starship from the Indian Ocean
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Efforts are underway to recover the Starship from the Indian Ocean after it lifted off from Starbase last week. SpaceX noted several successes throughout Starship Flight 13, including a successful first-stage ascent, a high-thrust burn igniting all 33 Raptor 3 engines with a Super Heavy V3, and deploying 20 Starlink V3 [...]
Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch
Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success. SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas. The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by incr…
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