SpaceX Completes Unloading of Starship Ship 40 Prototype in Texas

Image: Illustrative image · Steve Jurvetson · CC BY 2.0 · Source

SpaceX has finished unloading the Starship Ship 40 prototype at its Texas facility after a successful mission and a lengthy sea voyage back from the Indian Ocean, setting the stage for detailed analysis.

SpaceX has completed the transfer of its Starship Ship 40 prototype onto land in Texas, marking a significant milestone following the vehicle's recent mission and recovery. The unloading operation was documented from the air by photographer Jerry Pike, showing the Starship adjacent to the semi-submersible transport vessel Forte. Shortly after unloading, the Forte departed from Brownsville, Texas, while Starship Ship 40 was prepared for shipment to SpaceX's Starbase facility for further examination.

The Ship 40 prototype undertook its 13th test flight on July 24, 2026, paired with the Booster 20 stage. During this mission, it deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites, conducted an in-space restart of its Raptor engine, and completed a controlled, soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This flight marked a first for the upper stage of Starship to survive atmospheric re-entry and splashdown intact.

Upon the unexpected successful recovery, SpaceX launched a rescue and retrieval effort. Tugboats transported the Starship roughly 24 days to Christmas Island, where engineers inspected the vehicle and studied thermal protection samples. In late August, the semi-submersible vessel Forte loaded the Ship 40 for a 17,000-kilometer sea journey around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Atlantic Ocean back to Texas.

The transport vessel arrived in Brownsville on October 7, completing the extensive global transit of the spacecraft. Although calling this entire sequence a “circumnavigation” is geographically and legally imprecise, combining the near-complete orbit during flight with the sea route of recovery means the spacecraft effectively circled the planet.

Starship Ship 40 is now set for in-depth analysis at Starbase, an effort that could yield valuable insights to inform the ongoing development and refinement of the Starship program. This successful recovery and inspection effort highlights SpaceX's growing capabilities in vehicle reuse and post-mission evaluations.