SpaceX's Starship 40 recovered after 24 days at sea faces months-long trek back to Texas

Starship 40 launched from SpaceX's Starbase in South Texas on July 24, deploying 20 Starlink V3 satellites before the payload re-entered and burned up as planned. Unlike previous tests, the upper stage survived its splashdown and remained afloat for 24 days before a recovery team moved it toward Christmas Island, where the tug Normand Ranger held it until the 710-foot transport ship Forte arrived. Forte lowered its cargo deck, positioned a custom cradle, and lifted the 171-foot rocket onto the vessel, a procedure common in commercial shipping but unprecedented for a spacecraft.

The ship will now sail westward, with tracking suggesting an October 8 arrival at the Port of Brownsville, a trip that may route around the Cape of Good Hope. Engineers have already extracted heat-shield material to gain insight into re-entry performance, data that will inform the design of future fully reusable Starship flights.