SpaceX is towing a Starship home from the sea for the first time. Ship 40, the upper stage of the company's thirteenth integrated flight test, made the softest water landing in the program's history.

On July 24, rather than breaking apart on impact like every predecessor, it settled upright and stayed intact. It simply kept floating on the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia. All still transmitting images via Starlink!

The landing sequence was close to textbook. After reentry, Ship 40 executed a controlled flip, lit its Raptor engines for the landing burn, and down-selected from three engines to two and then one as it decelerated to a gentle touchdown. All six engines had survived the flight, and the vehicle held control through the punishing heat of reentry. It tipped over softly onto the water and simply stayed there.

SpaceX's Dan Huot called the outcome a "dream scenario" on the live webcast.

Then came the part nobody planned for. Ship 40 remained buoyant and airtight for more than 100 hours, beaming telemetry and video back through Starlink. The Ship drifted more than 400 kilometers as the recovery ship GO Australis tracked it. On July 28, Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX would try to bring it back rather than let it sink. This became the first attempt ever to recover an intact orbital-class upper stage from the ocean. And totally unexpected, too!

A small fleet went to work. The tugboat Normand Ranger reached the ship first and latched onto its nozzle end, joined by Skimmer Tide and GO Australis.