Starship's 13th Test Flight Successfully Splashes Down Intact, But Musk Unusually Pessimistic: Recovery Prospects Not Looking Good

According to media reports, SpaceX's Starship successfully completed its 13th test flight, but the subsequent marine recovery operation may end in disappointment.

It is understood that the overall performance of the 13th test flight of Starship was quite good, especially the Ship upper stage, which is about 171 feet (approximately 52 meters) tall. It splashed down in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia as planned.

What was even more unexpected was that the Ship remained intact after splashdown for the first time. Even after tipping over and impacting the sea surface, it still did not break apart.

Currently, the Ship remains intact, and SpaceX is towing it toward the coast of Western Australia for more detailed inspection.

However, Musk then rarely voiced a pessimistic view: "This ambitious recovery operation may be difficult to succeed."

Musk wrote that afternoon on his social platform X: "Unfortunately, the outlook for recovering the Ship is not optimistic at the moment. However, we still successfully obtained close-up photos of the heat shield and critical engine areas, which will be used for future upgrades and improvements."

He was responding to a message SpaceX had posted about an hour earlier, in which the company provided updates on the recovery work and published two photos and a video.

After the Ship fell into the sea, SpaceX immediately dispatched a recovery team to attempt to tow the approximately 52-meter-long spacecraft to the shore for detailed inspection.

However, the team has encountered rough sea conditions and gradually increasing winds and waves over the past few days, making the towing work difficult. SpaceX wrote in a social media update: "The recovery team has been overcoming challenging conditions in an attempt to guide the ship to port."

It is understood that Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built by humanity. When the first and second stages are fully stacked, the total height is about 408 feet (124 meters).