SpaceX’s massive Starship towed to remote island after weeks at sea

ORLANDO, Fla. - SpaceX has achieved another major milestone, marking the first time the company has successfully recovered a Starship spacecraft following a test flight. 

After nearly a month in open waters, the world's largest rocket has finally made landfall—though millions of miles away from its home base in Texas.

The backstory:

The spacecraft, designated Ship 40, launched on July 24. The mission concluded with a planned, controlled soft landing into the Indian Ocean.

While previous ocean splashdowns resulted in the vehicles sinking or disintegrating, Ship 40 survived its descent intact and remained floating upright in the water. Recognizing an unexpected opportunity to study a vehicle that had actually survived reentry and splashdown, SpaceX launched an ambitious maritime recovery effort to secure and retrieve the hardware rather than letting it sink.

For 24 days, recovery crews battled open-ocean waves and challenging sea conditions to tow the massive 400-foot-tall, nearly 30-foot-wide upper stage across the water.

Where did Starship end up?

The massive rocket made its way to Christmas Island, a tiny Australian territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean home to fewer than 1,200 residents.

Towed by boats at a cautious speed in choppy conditions, the rocket was guided into calmer waters off the island's coast. The remote outcrop has now become a temporary holding pad for the largest rocket ever built.

What they're saying:

The sight of space-age engineering arriving off the shores of a quiet island created an instant sensation among local residents who gathered along the coast to watch the arrival.

David Watchorn, Director at Extra Divers Australia, described the spectacle of watching the rocket arrive as surreal.

"It’s really incredible," he said. "Seeing something that’s not natural that’s basically fallen out of space and to be towed in to our island and to become really a world stage."

"I knew there would be no one else around, and the world would want to see this," the dive owner added.

Chris Bray, a wildlife photographer living on Christmas Island, always carries his camera gear, and that paid off.

"Probably even more amazing than the size of the rocket is the size of the followers online, so many people have been going crazy about those photos," said Bray. "Normally I’m known for wildlife stuff and this is not at all wildlife, but it’s still pretty wild."

"Pretty amazing thing to have turned up on your little tiny island in the middle of nowhere," concluded Bray.

SpaceX acknowledged the milestone in an official statement:

"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."

What's next:

Engineers will conduct thorough inspections of Ship 40 in the sheltered waters of Christmas Island. It’s still unclear when SpaceX will transport the rocket back to the United States or how it will navigate the long voyage to Starbase in South Texas.