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<p><span style="font-weight:400">SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 successfully landed in the Indian Ocean with an intact heat shield, a major milestone for the company as it looks to put men back on the moon.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Instead of hitting the water with a fireball, as in previous flights, the rocket flipped into its vertical landing position and touched down in the Indian Ocean before falling over and floating on top of the water.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“That is a first,” Dan Huot, communications manager for SpaceX, said during the livestream. “That is the softest splashdown we have ever had with the Starship there in the Indian Ocean.”</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the 13th flight test of Starship! <a href="https://t.co/g27YJCQgiN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/g27YJCQgiN</a></p>
<p>— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2080804682918764619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 24, 2026</a></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight:400">The July 24 flight was the second test of Starship’s V3 rocket and the first flight to deploy Starlink V3 satellites, </span><a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">according</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> to SpaceX’s website. SpaceX originally planned the test flight for July 16 but aborted just before the launch after some of the engines failed to start.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">In the first test of the V3, the rocket hit the Indian Ocean with a planned explosion. This time, the rocket bobbed gently in the water while waiting for the recovery team.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The landing was so successful that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said SpaceX might try to catch the rocket on the next test flight.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight,” Musk said on X.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Cameras on Starship continued sending video of the rocket after landing and provided views of the rocket’s heat shield, which was mostly intact.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“This is the first time we’ve put an intact Starship in the water,” Huot said on the livestream. “This is a dream scenario for the team that’s trying to get this heat shield data.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Musk highlighted an X post showing the progress the company has made with the heat shield in four test flights.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“Latest heat shield design looks great!” Musk said on X.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Latest heat shield design looks great! <a href="https://t.co/PitlHFwilp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://t.co/PitlHFwilp</a></p>
<p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2080817350069084561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 25, 2026</a></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight:400">NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman celebrated Flight 13’s successful launch.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“Excited for what will be learned from this mission,” Isaacman wrote on X. “When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up the Moon again!”</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Pretty clear from this shot that <a href="https://x.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@SpaceX</a> knows where we are going! Congrats on getting Flight 13 underway. Excited for what will be learned from this mission. When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up… <a href="https://t.co/aTSUCqUPcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://t.co/aTSUCqUPcB</a></p>
<p>— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) <a href="https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2080794963596726670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 24, 2026</a></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight:400">The successful flight is a major milestone for SpaceX as it prepares for NASA’s Artemis III mission. NASA partnered with SpaceX to create a version of Starship to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon, </span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/reference/human-landing-systems-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">according</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> to NASA’s website.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">This was the first test flight since SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took the company public in the </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-becomes-first-trillionaire-after-spacex-ipo" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">largest</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> initial public offering in history.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“Lucky Number 13,” Huot said. “Hell of a flight for Starship.”</span></p>
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Shocks With ‘Softest Splashdown ever’ Of Rocket Into Ocean
