SpaceX Starship recovered close to Christmas Island, photographer captures picture

Just 11 days after SpaceX’s Starship restoration efforts seemed to be faltering, the car was noticed being towed ashore at Christmas Island within the Indian Ocean by a wildlife photographer.

When photographer Chris Bray headed out along with his gear, he had no thought he’d seize a picture that will set the spaceflight group buzzing.

“There had been rumors it was on its way, and then this morning I heard it was here, so I grabbed my wildlife telephoto lens and drone and dashed down to the coast to see it,” Bray wrote to FLORIDA TODAY. “My first reaction as I glimpsed it through the trees was ‘OMG that thing is HUGE!’”

Starship coming home

Starship’s lucky Flight 13 ended with a major milestone for SpaceX, when for the first time a Starship splashed down intact after a test flight from Texas. No explosion, just some flames. Starship plopping over and bobbing in the Indian Ocean.

A huge goal, as SpaceX eventually plans to catch the approximately 171-ft-tall spacecrafts back at the launch site and reuse them multiple times.

Now that Starship, called Ship 40, has arrived back to shore.

“I’ve watched many of these launches including this one live online but never seen one in person so it was hard to understand the true scale, but… wow,” wrote Bray. “It’s like an apartment block, 2 or 3 stories high and maybe 8-10 apartments wide?! Incredible to see!”

It was on Aug. 7 that SpaceX posted to social media about the challenging conditions facing the recovery team. CEO Elon Musk responding to a post on X admitted that recovery was “not wanting good.” But he noted the company could still gather valuable observations on the heatshield.

Silence followed for more than a week. Space enthusiasts wondered about the fate of Ship 40 with some even tracking the recovery ship.

“After approx. 24 days at sea, the SpaceX Recovery team successfully guided Starship to a location just off the coast of Christmas Island,” the company posted to X hours after Bray’s photo hit social media, confirming the recovery. “A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to Starbase.”

“Never quit,” VP of Launch at SpaceX Kiko Dontchev wrote on X, sharing the company’s post.

Bray, who runs small-group wildlife photo tours around the world, said he had never seen anything like it in his career. Bray said now he’s curious to see just how SpaceX goes about recovering this giant milestone spacecraft.

Soon, Florida residents may get their first glimpse of a Starship rolling into Kennedy Space Center from Texas.

Starship coming to Florida

While Starship is planning to launch from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A and Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the future, it is still undergoing these test flights from Starbase.

SpaceX has previously stated the first launch from Pad 39 could happen as soon as the end of the year and work on its pad is nearing completion.

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Beyond launching Starlink satellites and advancing SpaceX’s long-term deep-space goals, Starship is also expected to carry future payloads for NASA and the Space Force.

Starship also plays a key role in NASA’s Artemis moon program. SpaceX is developing the Starship Human Landing System, or HLS, which could carry astronauts to the lunar surface as early as Artemis IV.

Before then, a modified Starship V3 is expected to dock with Orion in Earth orbit during the 2027 Artemis III mission. For this mission, NASA said that a docking system will be installed on the nose of the Starship. The test will evaluate Orion’s docking with Starship but the crew will not enter the vehicle.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.