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SpaceX's recovered Starship 40 will take months to get back to Texas

2026-09-08 | original

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Why This Matters

SpaceX unexpectedly recovered an intact Starship upper stage after a suborbital test flight that deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites, giving engineers physical hardware to inspect rather than just telemetry. That kind of post-flight forensics could accelerate progress toward a fully reusable launch system, even though the vehicle itself likely won't fly again. The catch: hauling it back from the Indian Ocean to Texas will take months.

Key Takeaways

Starship 40 flew from Starbase in South Texas to the Indian Ocean in about 65 minutes on July 24, but the return trip will take several months.
The suborbital mission tested Starship's payload deployment system; the 20 Starlink V3 satellites reentered and burned up as intended roughly 20 minutes after deployment.
Unlike prior upper stages, this one survived splashdown intact, giving SpaceX real hardware to study instead of telemetry and debris.

Worth a Look

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SpaceX's Starship 40 is one fast rocket, having traveled thousands of miles from Texas to the Indian Ocean in around 65 minutes. Its journey home is, well, slightly slower: The company says it will take several months.

Starship 40 launched from SpaceX's Starbase in South Texas on July 24. The spacecraft deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites during its roughly 65-minute flight. However, this was a suborbital mission, and after briefly linking up with SpaceX's network, the satellites reentered and burned up about 20 minutes after deployment. That was the intended result as it wasn't an operational satellite launch. Instead, it was designed to test Starship's payload deployment system (among other things) as SpaceX inches toward a fully reusable launch system.

What came as a surprise was that, unlike previous Starship upper stages, Starship 40 survived its splashdown intact. Although it's likely in no shape to be reused, the salvaged spacecraft gives engineers something to study in detail rather than deduce from telemetry or scraps of debris.

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