On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, Flight 13’s upper stage, Starship 40, returned to Starbase, Texas, after 75 days at sea.
It’s also called Ship 40 and has ‘S40’ painted on it under one of the forward flaps (right flap if you look from the leeward/tileless side).
Ship 40 is the first, and only, Starship to make such a perfect soft splashdown landing that it stayed intact after hitting the ocean’s surface.
This Starship upper-stage test vehicle launched from Starbase, Texas, and landed in the Indian Ocean on July 24. It remained adrift in open water for more than a month.
SpaceX engineers monitored it constantly and recovered some heat shield tiles, which they reused on Flight 14 Ship 41, Starship’s first orbital launch.
A month after the Flight 13 launch, SpaceX, with the help of marine experts, rescued Ship 40 from the Indian Ocean. It began its voyage back to Starbase, Texas, on a large vessel called Forte.
On October 7, Forte brought Starship back to Starbase, its birthplace. Several ground observers recorded the historic moments and shared them on X and YouTube (watch below).
Ship 40’s Physical Condition on Return
Ship 40 endured the reentry burn that is visible on its heat shield tiles—the white scratch marks. However, the thermal protection system (TPS) tiles mostly remained intact.
During the month it floated on the ocean, SpaceX engineers studied the ship and especially the heat tiles. The latest close-up pictures of Starship 40 show that its time in the ocean and at sea during the voyage has taken its toll.
Due to the salty seawater and harsh weather, Ship 40 appears to have lost some tiles. SpaceX staff may also have removed several tiles and taken them back to Starbase for data analysis. The ship also looks rusty because of months at sea.
All six Raptor engines appear to be intact inside the engine bay. Even one sea-level engine was used to pull Ship 40 during the rescue operation.
The Fate of Starship 40
Flight 13 Starship 40 is a great specimen for research and as a monument as well. As SpaceX has got the ship back at Starbase, the extensive research and analysis of the spacecraft has already begun.
Elon Musk and his SpaceX team will proudly add Starship 40 to the Starbase Rocket Garden.
Since its arrival around two days ago, SpaceX hasn’t shared any details via its official X account as of this writing. The rocket companyy will most probably release a short documentary on Starship 40’s sea journey and its final fate.
Stay tuned for future updates on Starship and SpaceX. Follow us on:
Google News | X (Twitter) | Flipboard | WhatsApp Channel | RSS (Feedly).
Related SpaceX Starship News
- Flight 13 Starship 40 returns home to Starbase, Texas, after months at sea
- SpaceX deployed 26 terabits per second of Starlink V3 bandwidth in a single Starship launch (Flight 14)
- Watch Flight 14 Starship launch live stream recordings and read the live updates archive
- SpaceX completes Starship Flight 14 launch rehearsal, gets final FAA approval for launch on Monday, more
- SpaceX (SPCX) President Gwynne Shotwell files to sell $52M worth of the company’s shares
- Starship Flight 14 gets delayed, SpaceX moves Booster 21 to Starbase launch pad, more
.){kind=link}