Starship Flight 13 Ends with Breakthrough Indian Ocean Splashdown
Public Lokpal
July 25, 2026
Starship Flight 13 Ends with Breakthrough Indian Ocean Splashdown
SpaceX’s Starship reached a major milestone during its 13th test flight, concluding with its softest ocean touchdown to date.
After launching from Starbase, the Super Heavy booster staged successfully, though it experienced engine ignition anomalies during its landing burn in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, the upper stage performed flawlessly in space. It successfully deployed 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites and completed a critical single-Raptor engine relight in orbit.
Entering Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, the upper stage withstood extreme re-entry heating. It executed a controlled belly-flop, flipped upright, relit its engines, and achieved a gentle splashdown west of Australia. Unlike earlier tests, the vehicle survived the impact intact, floating in the water while transmitting invaluable real-time telemetry.
This success marks a giant leap toward full reusability, operational payload deployment, and future deep-space missions for NASA’s Artemis program and Mars exploration.