Starship is coming home! SpaceX loads floating spacecraft onto huge ship in the Indian Ocean (photos)

Nearly a month after its historic spaceflight, Starship is finally returning home. SpaceX transported its 171-foot-tall upper stage, Starship, onto a massive semi-submersible ship in the Indian Ocean on August 27. The vehicle, which had been submerged since July 24 after successfully completing the 13th test flight, is now set to make its way back to SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. This journey is expected to take several months.

Starship 171-foot upper stage, known as Starship or Ship, was deployed into space on the hour-long suborbital flight, carrying out its mission to deploy 20 Starlink Version 3 satellites into orbit. The upper stage also made history by successfully relighting one of its six Raptor engines during reentry. After a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia, Starship survived the ordeal intact, marking a significant improvement over previous flights where the upper stage either broke apart or exploded upon reentry.

SpaceX decided to take advantage of this unprecedented development, towing the recovered Starship to shore. Initially, the recovery seemed challenging due to rough seas and difficult conditions. However, the company persevered and managed to tow the vehicle to Christmas Island, an Australian territory located about 1,200 miles northwest of Broome.

Once there, SpaceX engineers inspected the vehicle for several days, collecting heat shield samples and gaining valuable insights into how the vehicle handled reentry. The company plans to make improvements based on these findings for future Starship vehicles.