# SpaceX's Starship Ship 40 returns to Starbase, Texas, after 75 days at sea

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/stories/spacex-s-starship-ship-40-returns-to-starbase-texas-after-75-days-at-sea-db7c1688
Date: 7 Oct 2026
About: [SpaceX](https://technooptimist.io/companies/spacex.md)
Original source: https://teslanorth.com/2026/10/07/spacex-ship-40-returns-starbase/

Ship 40, the upper stage flown on Starship Flight 13 on July 24, arrived back at Starbase on October 7 aboard the heavy-lift vessel Forte. The flight gave Starship its first intact splashdown in the ocean, and the ship then drifted for 24 days in rough seas before recovery. Its condition after the trip is described as scorched but mostly intact, and SpaceX has not said what happens to it next.

## Key facts

- Flight 13 launched from Starbase and ended with the ship in the Indian Ocean; it was expected to sink but stayed afloat.
- Recovery crews towed the 171-foot ship to Christmas Island, where engineers inspected it and collected heatshield samples.
- The ship was loaded onto a semi-submersible in late August for the trip back to Texas.
- Photographer Jerry Pike, who shot the arrival, said the ship returned '(mostly) intact' after 75 days at sea.
- SpaceX has not said whether the ship will be studied further, put on display or scrapped.

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