SpaceX recovers Starship from Indian Ocean after successful test flight

The Starship, described as the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, was launched on July 24 from Texas for its 13th test flight. Unlike previous attempts, this flight successfully completed an hour-long space-skimming trajectory and remained afloat and intact upon splashdown.

SpaceX shared images of the recovery operation near Christmas Island, with the company commending its recovery team for their efforts in challenging conditions. The data gathered from this flight is expected to aid in the continued rapid development of Starship.

Starship is central to Elon Musk's long-term vision of enabling human and cargo transport to Mars for city construction. In the nearer term, NASA is relying on Starship, alongside Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon lander, for its Artemis program aiming to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028.

President Donald Trump recently visited NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, presenting the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II astronauts who completed a lunar flyby in April, endorsing both lunar and Martian exploration goals.