SpaceX eyes tower catch for next Starship after 13th test flight ends with intact splashdown

SpaceX completed a major milestone on Friday, July 24, 2026, when its 13th full-scale Starship test flight ended with an intact splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The vehicle gently tipped over and floated on the water west of Australia, a stark contrast to previous flights that ended in fireballs. This success marks the first time SpaceX has recovered an intact Starship from a water landing.

The intact vehicle allows engineers to inspect its heat shield up close. Drones flew over the ship to examine the more than 18,000 ceramic tiles that protect the stainless steel airframe from temperatures up to 2,600° Fahrenheit (1,430° Celsius) during reentry. The heat shield is critical for SpaceX’s goal of rapid reusability, as the company envisions multiple flights per day without extensive refurbishment.

Encouraged by the flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that the next Starship launch will likely attempt to catch the ship with the launch tower’s mechanical arms. This maneuver has already been performed with the Super Heavy booster, but catching the larger, faster-moving Starship would be a significant step toward full and rapid reuse. The next flight may also send Starship on a longer trajectory, possibly into low-Earth orbit, to return to the launch site.

The 408-foot-tall (124-meter) rocket lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 5:51 pm CDT, powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines. The Super Heavy booster separated successfully but failed to relight its engines for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a hard impact. This was the second consecutive booster recovery failure for the Version 3 design, though SpaceX previously recovered and re-flew Super Heavy boosters on two earlier flights with Version 2.

During the flight, Starship deployed 20 upgraded Starlink V3 satellites from its payload bay. These satellites are larger and more powerful than previous versions and cannot fit on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, making Starship essential for their deployment. The successful deployment and intact splashdown provide valuable data for refining the heat shield and other systems.

SpaceX plans to tow the floating Starship to shore, likely in Australia, for detailed inspections. The company will review mission data before committing to the tower catch attempt on the next flight. If successful, this would bring SpaceX closer to its vision of a fully reusable rocket system capable of rapid turnaround and frequent launches.