SpaceX plans tower catch for Starship after successful 13th test flight

SpaceX reported that its 13th full-scale Starship test flight concluded with an intact splashdown in a remote part of the Indian Ocean west of Australia. The vehicle floated upright after re-entry, allowing engineers to fly drones over the heat shield and assess the condition of more than 18,000 ceramic tiles that endured temperatures up to 2,600 °F (1,430 °C).

Elon Musk said on X that, barring any issues uncovered in the mission data review, the company will attempt to catch the Starship with the launch-tower arms on the next flight. The proposed maneuver would involve a longer-range trajectory, possibly low-Earth orbit, with the vehicle returning to the launch site for a tower-based recovery, a technique already used for the Super Heavy booster.

"Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight," Musk wrote.

SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot described the splashdown as the first time an intact Starship has been recovered from the water and highlighted its value for heat-shield data. He noted that the vehicle appeared largely undamaged and that the heat shield showed promising resilience despite higher dynamic pressure during ascent.

The flight also deployed a batch of 20 upgraded Starlink V3 satellites, which were designed to burn up shortly after release. Ground teams established contact with each satellite and retrieved telemetry before their re-entry, providing the first performance data for the new model. A brief restart of one Raptor engine was observed over South Africa, a capability Musk called essential for future orbital missions.

While the Super Heavy booster’s landing burn was only partially successful, resulting in a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the high-thrust portion of the boost-back burn was completed with all 33 engines, marking a first for the V3 version. SpaceX continues to work toward orbital flights, which are needed for NASA’s Artemis lunar program and for commercial satellite operations.