The lucky and now seemingly unfortunate Flight 13 Starship upper stage (Ship 40) is still floating in the Indian Ocean (near Australia). SpaceX has increased its recovery efforts to bring Starship 40 back to Starbase, Texas (details below).
Last month, after around 100 hours of its amazing soft splashdown, we reported that Ship 40 was still afloat, as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared footage of it free-sailing across the ocean.
Today, Flight 13 Starship has completed a month since its landing. In its last week’s update, SpaceX confirmed that the company’s teams have successfully taken Ship 40 into calmer waters. With the ever-changing weather, the sea was rough where the Starship had landed.
The last photo of Starship 40 shared by Elon Musk shows a small boat alongside the ship, with SpaceX staff inspecting it closely. He shared this picture on Friday, August 21.
This photo shows the further deteriorating condition of the spacecraft. The forward flap looks damaged. The saltwater and sea breeze are apparently taking a toll on Starship, as rust has appeared across its leeward side (bare metal).
Starship’s belly (windward side) is covered with thermal protection system (TPS) heat-shield tiles. So, this area shouldn’t be affected by rust. However, the extreme friction and temperature at atmospheric reentry have left their mark (pic below).
Actually, Ship 40 hit the ocean surface with the metal side. Thousands of hollow heat tiles and empty propellant tanks inside have kept the ship from drowning. The hollowness of the tiles must have kept the belly side up.
Ship 40 Recovery Efforts
It has almost been a week since special recovery ships arrived at Ship 40’s floating location. These recovery teams had guided the 52-meter-long spacecraft to the nearby Christmas Island.
On August 17, SpaceX posted the following update and video of Starship 40 on X:
After approx. 24 days at sea, the SpaceX Recovery team successfully guided Starship to a location just off the coast of Christmas Island. A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to Starbase
After approx. 24 days at sea, the SpaceX Recovery team successfully guided Starship to a location just off the coast of Christmas Island. A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to… pic.twitter.com/h6YYWb0LT5
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 18, 2026
SpaceX teams and hired maritime teams are tirelessly working to recover and bring the Flight 13 Starship back home. Three vessels/ships are involved in this recovery and shipment operation.
Two offshore tug/supply vessels, Normand Ranger and Go Australis, are attempting to pull Ship 40. These platform support vessels (PSVs) are guiding Starship onto the heavy-lift vessel named Forte.
Ship 40 will be loaded onto Forte and will start its voyage to the Gulf of America, eventually ending up at Starbase, Texas.
Australian geographic photographer Chris Bray has posted photos and videos of Starship recovery efforts on his Facebook profile (seen in the X posts below). These latest updates from Christmas Island are from yesterday.
Stay tuned for future updates on Starship and SpaceX. Follow us on:
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- Watch Flight 14 Starship launch live stream recordings and read the live updates archive
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- Starship Flight 14 orbital launch: planned trajectory, mission objectives, no landing catch
 has increased its efforts to recover Flight 13 Starship 40 from the Indian Ocean, as it has been afloat for one month (pics and videos from Christmas Island), more.){kind=link}