SpaceX successfully recovered its most recently launched Starship from the Indian Ocean on August 28, 2026, marking the company’s largest salvage operation to date. The spacecraft, which launched July 24 from Starbase, Texas, is now being prepared for transport back to its home base, a journey expected to take several months. The recovery took place near Christmas Island, with SpaceX sharing photos of the operation late last week.
The flight, the 13th test of a full Starship system, was unique because the spacecraft survived its hourlong suborbital flight and remained intact. Previous test flights have resulted in explosions or crashes. SpaceX credited its recovery team for navigating challenging conditions to retrieve the vehicle, which will provide engineers with critical data to advance Starship’s development.
Elon Musk has long envisioned Starship as the key to transporting humans and cargo to Mars, with the goal of establishing a permanent settlement. Before that, the spacecraft is crucial for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface by 2028. NASA relies on Starship alongside Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander for lunar missions.
During a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, former President Donald Trump praised the Artemis II astronauts, who completed a moon flyby in April. He presented them with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. SpaceX’s ability to recover and reuse Starship is a major step toward achieving both lunar and Mars ambitions, though challenges remain in perfecting the spacecraft’s reusability and reliability.