From space to the ocean, from the ocean to Texas: Starship returned home in nearly three months
SpaceX's Ship 40 vessel has been returned to the Starbase spaceport in Texas following a suborbital flight and a long ocean journey. It is the first Starship vehicle brought back to the base after a flight, allowing engineers to directly study the structure that experienced heavy loads during atmospheric reentry.
From space to the ocean, from the ocean to Texas: Starship returned home in nearly three months
SpaceX has published new photos of Ship 40. The vehicle is currently mounted in an upright position inside the Megabay hangar. Next to it are three more new Starship spacecraft being prepared for flight.
Ship 40 was launched on July 24 as part of the 13th test flight of the rocket system. The suborbital flight ended with a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. Most of the vehicle's structure remained intact, and it stayed on the water's surface.
After that, SpaceX launched an operation to return it to base. The 52-meter-long ship was towed through rough seas for 24 days. The travel conditions were so severe that Elon Musk himself expressed doubt about the possibility of successfully completing the operation.
In August, Ship 40 was brought near an island belonging to Australia. In the calmer waters there, engineers inspected the vehicle and took samples from the thermal protection coating on its lower section.
Then Starship was loaded onto the large semi-submersible transport ship Forte. The ship arrived at the port of Brownsville, Texas, on October 7. After that, Ship 40 was transported by land to the Starbase complex and placed in the hangar.
Engineers now intend to thoroughly inspect the ship to study how the flight and atmospheric reentry affected its structure and thermal protection coating. The collected data will be used to further refine the Starship system.