Musk Confirms Starship Flight 13 Rocket Recovered from Indian Ocean

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Tuesday that the commercial space company is recovering the Starship rocket, which completed its 13th flight test at the end of July.

Adrift at Sea for 24 Days

SpaceX posted on social media platform X that the "SpaceX recovery team" has guided the Starship rocket to a "position near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean," where the rocket had been adrift at sea for about 24 days.

"A team of SpaceX engineers is heading to the site to conduct additional analysis in calmer waters before attempting to return the rocket to Starbase," the company said. Musk reposted the update, confirming that "Starship's 13th flight is being recovered from the sea."

Starship's 13th flight is being recovered from the sea

— Elon Musk August 18, 2026

Musk had previously stated that SpaceX might not be able to recover the rocket. In an X post published on August 7, Musk said the ship recovery "does not look optimistic," but added that SpaceX had captured "close-up photos of the heat shield and key engine areas for future upgrades."

Unfortunately, ship recovery does not look optimistic right now.

Nevertheless, we were able to obtain close-up photos of the heat shield and key engine areas for future upgrades.

— Elon Musk August 7, 2006

SpaceX Launches Two Rockets 38 Minutes Apart

The news coincides with another rocket-related achievement for SpaceX. The company recently launched two Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, setting a new record for the shortest interval between orbital launches.

Meanwhile, Harvard Management Company disclosed a $2.2 billion investment in SpaceX. According to 13F filings, the university held 12.94 million shares of SpaceX Class A common stock as of the end of the second quarter of 2026, making SpaceX its largest disclosed public holding. According to Edge Rankings, SpaceX has provided favorable price trends over the short, medium, and long term.

Stock performance: SpaceX shares fell 1.18% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, to $141.65.