SpaceX recovered a Starship that floated at sea for 33 days.
SpaceX's upper stage, Ship 40, splashed down in the Indian Ocean after Flight 13 on 24 July and did not sink. SpaceX's film, "The Holy Grail of Rocketry", follows the crew sent to recover it.
The ship drifted for weeks before a salvage team rigged it for towing. "We were making extremely slow tow and even at that speed we were starting to damage the vehicle pretty hard," a SpaceX recovery lead says in the film. It reached Christmas Island on 19 August. The film's caption marks 26 August as the end of its 33 days at sea. Starlust reports the island lies more than 850 miles from Port of Dampier, Australia.
Starlust reports that two heat-shield tiles recovered from Ship 40 will fly on Ship 41 during Flight 14.
For launch customers, the question is whether reuse shows up as a lower price once SpaceX pays for recovery, inspection and refurbishment. Weeks of salvage at sea are part of that bill.
🎥 Video: SpaceX, official YouTube channel, 18 Sep 2026 · narration: AI voice
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What the captions say
- This Starship floated in the Indian Ocean for 33 days.
- It splashed down after Flight 13, on July 24.
- The ship survived. SpaceX sent a salvage crew.
- SpaceX says even slow towing damaged the ship.
- On August 19 it reached Christmas Island.
- Two heat-shield tiles will fly again on Flight 14.
- SpaceX says full reuse will change access to space.
