Keep the chicoms and the soviets away

Think they'll have a good idea after this. Seemed ok from what we could see, and that's what they were really focusing on. They may also get a first hand look or be able to recover the whole ship for inspection.

I hope they go orbital for 14. Would be awesome.

Maximus_Meridius said:

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They might go orbital but I doubt they go for the Gulf of America until they prove the heat shield survives that reentry profile

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I don't think there's anything substantially different about reentry into the Gulf or the chopsticks than what they've been doing with the ship. Every ship that's made it to reentry has had a basically nominal splashdown right where it was supposed to.

After watching this one I'm expecting a ship catch before a V3 booster catch.

Wonder if they intentionally made the water landing mushier. It seemed to splash much more gently... More sliding into the water instead of tipping over flat onto the water surface.

Whatever the case, it blew my mind to see the intact ship. Now they just have to figure out that dang booster landing

normaleagle05 said:

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Maximus_Meridius said:

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They might go orbital but I doubt they go for the Gulf of America until they prove the heat shield survives that reentry profile

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I don't think there's anything substantially different about reentry into the Gulf or the chopsticks than what they've been doing with the ship. Every ship that's made it to reentry has had a basically nominal splashdown right where it was supposed to.

After watching this one I'm expecting a ship catch before a V3 booster catch.

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I think they will want to do an orbital flight with full and accurate deorbit burn before they try to do a ship catch. I suspect the next flight will be orbital with a GOM ship splashdown. If ship nails that they will go for catch on 15. If they also get a proper booster relight and splashdown on 14, they will have an interesting decision on their hands for flight 15.

We were in the same area. First time seeing a launch and it was great!! We spent time Wednesday on Boca Chica beach right on the Rio Grande and couldn't believe how close we could get to the facility.

So ice in the raptor engines caused them to not start, and I’m sure a lot of you are wondering how water got in there. While a few more know that the combustion products of methane includes water, so it’s more a question of why it was still in there.

— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) July 24, 2026

He also said the booster impacted at less than 100 mph, if they had another 200m it would've stopped before impact.

Starship as seen from Starlink satellites pic.twitter.com/e2hvfmnewh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026

SpaceX Starship Heat Shield Comparison Between Flights 10-13.

It’s getting better every time. This is what progress looks like. 🦾 pic.twitter.com/2BzANY9BoL

— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) July 25, 2026

will25u said:

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Starship as seen from Starlink satellites pic.twitter.com/e2hvfmnewh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026

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That's ship as seen from the booster.

How did the footage get to you?

The earth rotates about 15 degrees per hour or 22.5 degrees every orbit making a catch after an abort once around orbit unlikely.

So that means it would have to do 16 orbits and then would be in position to return 24 hrs after launch.

I went a bit quiet there as we we had a flurry of activity over the past week and weekend but the outcome was worth the effort. Megabay killed it last weekend, thank you folks for being awesome.

Great flight 13 for both Booster 20 and Starship 40, which finished its mission… https://t.co/vuB4u7sXwi

— Shana Diez (@ShanaDiez) July 25, 2026

Quote:

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Megabay killed it last weekend, thank you folks for being awesome.

Great flight 13 for both Booster 20 and Starship 40, which finished its mission floating intact in the Indian Ocean (a first as we've previously lost the nose on slapdown after water landings).

Really critical data collected this mission on a demonstration deorbit burn for Raptor, and a first flight for the next generation Starlink satellites. It feels like we are ready to kick into gear on delivering payload to orbit, which I am very excited for. Development vehicles are fun but at the end of the day, we are here to put things into space and I am psyched about this rocket's game changing capabilities.

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hph6203 said:

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How did the footage get to you?

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Via SpaceX's live stream. The satellites were released in the dark side. Ships engines are lit. And the moon wasn't in that position when the satellites were released.

Plus, that is clearly the booster seen in the video

Starship still seemingly afloat, Australis still tracking alongside it at a steady rate regardless of Starship transmission loss several hours ago. Surpassing 9 hours of Australis alongside Starship and 16 hours since touchdown.

PS, asking for constant updates is pointless😃It's… https://t.co/6ze4PN28qe pic.twitter.com/7YfEyOblHx

— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) July 25, 2026

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PS, asking for constant updates is pointless. It's a four thousand ton vessel. It's not going anywhere quick lol. If something important happens I post as rapidly as I can

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TexAgs91 said:

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will25u said:

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Starship as seen from Starlink satellites pic.twitter.com/e2hvfmnewh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026

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That's ship as seen from the booster.

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Very cool shot. Just before Starship goes out of sight, it looks like the exhaust blast from the booster sweeps across it.

How did the footage get to the SpaceX livestream?

hph6203 said:

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How did the footage get to the SpaceX livestream?

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that's an open question as the starlink terminal was underwater. Maybe some wifi comms as Manley said they kept broadcasting location for several hours.

nortex97 said:

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hph6203 said:

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How did the footage get to the SpaceX livestream?

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that's an open question as the starlink terminal was underwater. Maybe some wifi comms as Manley said they kept broadcasting location for several hours.

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There's two locations on ship so they had that covered.

hph6203 said:

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How did the footage get to the SpaceX livestream?

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He said "as SEEN from Starlink satellites"

LETS GO FLIGHT 13 🚀 pic.twitter.com/dvCBw5mVZZ

— carson_phillips (@Cphillips_03) July 24, 2026