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Elon Musk confirms SpaceX successfully recovered the Starship upper stage from the Indian Ocean to Australia

SpaceX has successfully retrieved the upper stage of its Starship rocket, known as Ship 40, from the Indian Ocean after a 24-day maritime mission. The 171-foot-tall spacecraft landed intact in the ocean following the 13th test flight of the vehicle, which launched from South Texas on July 24. Despite facing increasingly rough seas and challenging conditions, recovery teams managed to tow the vessel to the coast of Christmas Island, an Australian territory. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, initially expressed skepticism regarding the recovery due to the harsh weather, but the company eventually confirmed the vessel's arrival in calmer waters. SpaceX engineers are now preparing to conduct further analysis on the hardware to inform future rocket iterations. While the salt water exposure will likely prevent the vehicle from being reused, the physical inspection of the heat shield and engines will provide critical data. The company plans to return the spacecraft to its Texas headquarters for study, though it remains too large to be transported by aircraft in one piece.

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