SpaceX ready to Recover Starship S40 after over 200 Hours Floating Totally Shocked NASA!

I'm still following it, everyone. Our favorite floating starship, S-40, or as many fans are now calling it Starboat, is somehow still refusing to sink. Days after Flight 13, it's still floating in the Indian Ocean, and SpaceX appears to be preparing for the biggest rocket recovery operation in the company's history. So what happens next? How exactly will SpaceX bring home a 50-meter spacecraft floating hundreds of kilometers offshore? And why is this operation attracting attention across the entire aerospace industry, including NASA? Let's find out on today's episode of Great SpaceX. It's now been roughly a week since Flight 13, and incredibly, that's also how long S-40 has remained afloat in the Indian Ocean. At this point, the spacecraft has almost developed a personality of its own. Instead of exploding like previous starships, it's simply drifting peacefully, almost as if it's patiently waiting for someone to come pick it up. Fortunately for S-40, that's exactly what SpaceX plans to do. Over the past several days, the company has continued monitoring the spacecraft while preparing what could become the largest rocket recovery mission ever attempted. This isn't just another recovery operation. It's a project that could last well over a month and span thousands of kilometers. So if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to Great SpaceX. We'll be following every stage of this historic recovery, along with all the latest developments from SpaceX and the wider aerospace industry. Now let's look at the newest updates. As we discussed in our previous episode, both SpaceX and Elon Musk have officially confirmed that S-40 will be recovered. The company even released photographs showing members of the recovery team aboard a vessel operating close to the spacecraft. Since then, we've received even more encouraging news. More than 140 hours after splashdown, nearly 6 full days, S-40 was still floating. Even after drifting approximately 370 kilometers from its original landing location, the spacecraft remained intact. At that point, it was still about 1,255 kilometers from Australia's western coastline. That's an impressive demonstration of durability. Earlier, a vessel named Go Australis reached S-40's location. Its crew photographed the spacecraft and began evaluating possible recovery options. However, it soon became clear that one vessel alone wouldn't be enough to complete such a massive operation. Instead of immediately beginning recovery, the mission shifted toward monitoring and assessment. Now, additional support appears to be arriving. Two more vessels, Norman Ranger and Skimmer Tide, have reportedly headed toward S-40's location. At the time of this recording, both ships were still several hundred kilometers away. By the time you're watching this episode, they may already be working alongside the recovery team. Interestingly, both ships are similar in That detail tells us something important. Rather than lifting S-40 directly onto a massive transport vessel immediately, SpaceX will most likely begin by towing it. That approach makes perfect sense. Australia is relatively close compared with Texas. Towing the spacecraft to shore requires smaller vessels while avoiding the need for enormous lifting equipment during the first phase of recovery. Based on everything we've seen so far, that now appears to be the most likely plan. S-40 will probably be towed back to Australia. Once ashore, engineers can begin preliminary inspections while waiting for a much larger transport vessel to arrive. That second ship will likely handle the much longer journey back to Starbase. And that's where the strategy changes. Unlike the relatively short tow to Australia, transporting S-40 from Australia to Texas is an entirely different challenge. Whether SpaceX chooses the Pacific route or sails through the Indian and Atlantic oceans, the voyage could easily take between six to eight weeks. That's far too long to leave the spacecraft continuously exposed to seawater. Instead, the safest option would almost certainly involve lifting S-40 completely out of the water. That dramatically reduces corrosion while protecting valuable hardware during the transoceanic journey. In other words, tow first, transport second. It's a two-stage recovery plan. And honestly, it's probably the most practical solution available. Of course, recovering a spacecraft of this size is anything but simple. Sometimes people imagine recovery as little more than attaching a rope and slowly pulling the vehicle back to shore. If only it were that easy. Remember, Starship stands roughly 50 meters tall. It measures 9 meters in diameter. Its dry mass alone approaches 100 tons. And after splashdown, residual propellant may still remain on board. That's arguably the biggest challenge of the entire operation. Even after several days at sea, remaining methane and liquid oxygen present significant safety concerns. As temperatures change, residual cryogenic propellants can gradually warm into gaseous form. Tank pressures change. Monitoring becomes increasingly complicated. Every movement of the spacecraft has to be carefully planned. Recovery crews must assume hazardous conditions until proven otherwise. That's why every stage of the operation, from towing to securing the vehicle and eventually draining remaining propellant, requires strict safety procedures. Only after engineers confirm the tanks are safe can more detailed inspections begin. So yes, there are risks. But none of them appear large enough to stop SpaceX from attempting this historic recovery. If you're rooting for the recovery team, let us know in the comments by typing, BE CAREFUL. They've certainly earned our support. Although it's difficult to predict every detail of the recovery itself, one thing seems certain. S40's recovery isn't just attracting attention from SpaceX fans. The entire aerospace industry is watching. NASA included. Recovering rocket hardware isn't a new idea, but historically, it's been relatively uncommon because most launch vehicles were designed to be expendable. One of the best-known examples came during the Space Shuttle era. After every mission, NASA recovered the shuttle's two solid rocket boosters. They descended under parachutes before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean, where the recovery ships Liberty Star and Freedom Star located them, towed them back to port, and prepared them for refurbishment. Over the life of the shuttle program, NASA successfully recovered roughly 270 solid rocket boosters for inspection and reuse. That was an impressive technical accomplishment. Economically, however, the results were less impressive. Although portions of each booster could be reused, the refurbishment process remained expensive and labor-intensive. Salt water had to be removed, hardware thoroughly cleaned, systems disassembled, components inspected, and the solid rocket motors rebuilt and refilled. By the time all that work was complete, the savings were relatively modest. In many respects, partially reusable boosters still carried most of the costs associated with expendable hardware. Eventually, NASA moved away from that model. Despite inheriting many technologies from the Space Shuttle, the Space Launch System does not recover its boosters. Instead, they fall into the ocean and are discarded after every launch. A decision that has contributed to the SLS becoming one of the most expensive launch systems ever developed. Even before Artemis II, the program's launch costs had become one of its most frequently criticized aspects. SpaceX took a very different path. As NASA transitioned from the Shuttle to SLS, SpaceX invested heavily in full rocket reusability. The company's earliest Falcon 9 landing attempts were far from perfect. Many ended in dramatic failures. But every failure produced valuable data. And every lesson led to improvements. In 2015, SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 booster at LZ-1 for the first time. Not long afterward came successful landings on autonomous drone ships at sea. Those milestones fundamentally changed the launch industry. Instead of crashing into the ocean, Falcon boosters returned to controlled landing sites, dramatically reducing damage and making rapid reuse practical. More importantly, entire boosters, not just individual components, could fly again. Starship is intended to take that philosophy one step further. SpaceX has already demonstrated successful catches of the Super Heavy booster using Mechazilla's chopstick arms. Now, the next major objective is clear. Catch the Starship upper stage. That's where S40 becomes so important. Before attempting routine catches, engineers need to understand exactly how Starship behaves after surviving orbital re-entry and landing. Recovering S40 gives them their first opportunity to study a largely intact vehicle in detail. Yes, this vehicle still involves the ocean, much like NASA's shuttle booster recoveries once did. But that's only because SpaceX hasn't reached its ultimate goal yet. The objective isn't to make ocean recoveries routine. The objective is to eliminate them altogether. Recovering S40 provides the real-world data needed to eventually catch Starship directly at the launch tower. That's the key difference. This recovery isn't the destination. It's a stepping stone. That long-term vision is one reason the mission has attracted so much attention across the aerospace industry. Following Flight 13, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman highlighted Starship's potential, saying, When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up the moon again. That's high praise, and it reflects just how transformative many people believe Starship could become. Looking beyond S40 itself, SpaceX's ambitions extend far beyond recovering spacecraft from the ocean. Ultimately, the company wants every Starship returning directly to the launch site. Now, imagine watching both stages of the world's largest rocket return safely to the launch tower. First, the Super Heavy booster is caught by Mechazilla. Minutes later, Starship returns from orbit. The chopstick arms close around it once again. Mission complete. No ocean splashdown. No lengthy recovery operation. No saltwater corrosion. Just inspect, refuel, fly again. That's the future SpaceX is working toward. If the company can routinely catch both the booster and the Starship upper stage, it will accomplish something no aerospace organization has ever achieved, a fully reusable, two-stage Super Heavy launch system. Compared with NASA's partial space shuttle booster recovery program, the advantages are clear. No harsh marine environment. Much faster turnaround. Far less refurbishment. Higher launch cadence. Lower operating costs. Those benefits also strengthen SpaceX's competitive advantage. While companies like Blue Origin and several Chinese launch providers are still working toward routine rocket reusability, SpaceX is already focused on the next step, making an entire launch system rapidly reusable. Lower costs make more launches possible. More launches generate more operational experience. More experience accelerates development. It's a cycle that's extremely difficult for competitors to match, and the impact extends far beyond launching satellites. Rapidly reusable Starships could transform lunar exploration, Mars expeditions, orbital refueling, deep space cargo transport, and entirely new industries in Earth orbit. That's why so many people see Starship as more than just another rocket. It has the potential to become the foundation of humanity's next era of space exploration. Will SpaceX recover as many spacecraft from the ocean as NASA recovered shuttle boosters? Probably not, and that's exactly the goal. SpaceX doesn't want ocean recoveries to become routine. It wants them to become unnecessary. S40's recovery isn't meant to instill it, to establish a new normal. It's a bridge to a future where Starships no longer end their missions with splashdowns at all. In many ways, this mission highlights the different engineering philosophies of NASA and SpaceX. NASA ultimately concluded that recovering spacecraft from the ocean offered limited economic value for long-term operations. SpaceX looked at many of those same challenges and chose a far more ambitious path, complete reusability. Every setback became another engineering lesson. Every failure became another opportunity to improve. Now, that relentless approach has led the company to what may become one of the most significant spacecraft recovery operations in aerospace history. From the Indian Ocean to the shores of Australia, from Australia back to Starbase, every kilometer S40 travels brings engineers one step closer to the fully reusable future SpaceX has spent years pursuing. If everything goes according to plan, the next Starship to return home may never touch the ocean at all. That's it for today's episode. If you enjoyed it, don't forget to leave a like, subscribe to GreatSpaceX, and ring the notification bell so you never miss the latest updates on Starship, SpaceX, and humanity's exciting journey into the future of space exploration. Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next one.