Commercial satellites have captured images of salvage vessels attempting to tow SpaceX's 52-meter Starship spacecraft after it floated intact in the Indian Ocean.
The upper stage prototype, designated Ship 40, splashed down gently on July 24 following the company's 13th fully integrated test flight of the massive launch system. Starship is the flagship launch vehicle developed by SpaceX, the private American aerospace manufacturer founded by chief executive Elon Musk.
Satellite photographs taken on Sunday and Monday by Vantor, a Colorado-based geospatial intelligence company specializing in high-resolution orbital imaging, show a small support boat positioned alongside the rocket with a towing cable attached to its bow.
Ship tracking data from MarineTraffic, an online vessel tracking platform, recorded two Norwegian tugboats, the Normand Ranger and Skimmer Tide, moving at roughly one knot while broadcasting restricted maneuverability in the Indian Ocean. A third recovery vessel, the SpaceX ship Go Australis, has separated from the fleet and is returning independently to Australia.
SpaceX had not originally expected to recover Ship 40. However, Musk confirmed on July 28 that the company would retrieve the vehicle after it survived atmospheric reentry intact.
During the July mission, all six Raptor engines on the upper stage operated properly throughout the flight, maintaining control as the vehicle endured intense friction and thermal stress upon reentering Earth's atmosphere.
SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said during the company's live webcast that the soft water landing represented a dream scenario for the test flight. Because the vehicle maintained structural integrity, it remained airtight and floated on the ocean surface rather than sinking like earlier prototypes.
Atmospheric reentry and heat shield testing
The 52-meter upper spacecraft sits atop the Super Heavy booster rocket, forming a launch system that stands over 120 meters tall and generates tens of millions of pounds of thrust. SpaceX aims to achieve controlled landings for both components to enable rapid vehicle reuse and significantly reduce spaceflight costs.
Engineers delayed the 13th test flight specifically to ensure favorable weather conditions for capturing detailed optical imagery of the spacecraft during liftoff and ascent from the company's launch facilities.
A primary objective of the mission was gathering performance data on the heat shield, a protective coating of hexagonal ceramic tiles engineered to shield the vehicle from extreme friction and reentry heat while traveling at orbital speeds exceeding 28,000 kilometers per hour.
Although Musk commended the heat shield's performance, SpaceX continues to address engineering challenges to ensure vehicles remain undamaged and ready for rapid relaunch. No rocket in history has operated a rapidly reusable upper stage, a difficulty demonstrated by NASA's Space Shuttle program, which required extensive tile refurbishment between flights.
Musk indicated that results from the July flight were so encouraging that SpaceX might attempt to catch the upper stage on land using launch tower arms after its next test flight, though he stressed that any landing attempt remains subject to data analysis.
Development history and future mission goals
SpaceX's Starship development program has logged a combination of engineering successes and high-profile explosions over three years of flight testing. Across 13 integrated missions, engineers have flown Starship along roughly the same suborbital trajectory while continually refining the vehicle's design.
In 2024, SpaceX successfully guided a Super Heavy booster to a controlled landing into giant mechanical arms attached to its launch tower in Texas. However, the program suffered major setbacks in 2025 when two Starship vehicles exploded near inhabited islands east of Florida.
Even if SpaceX masters the recovery of both rocket stages, future long-distance spaceflights will require developing complex orbital refueling operations, where tankers transfer cryogenic propellants between spacecraft in Earth orbit.
The Starship vehicle is fundamental to the long-term commercial and exploration strategy of SpaceX. The company is building a human landing system variant under a multi-billion dollar contract for NASA's Artemis program to transport astronauts to the lunar surface.
Musk stated that Starship will also launch next-generation Starlink internet satellites, deploy orbital artificial intelligence data centers, and eventually carry the first human crews to Mars.
