SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 successfully landed in the Indian Ocean with an intact heat shield, a major milestone for the company as it looks to put men back on the moon. Instead of hitting the water with a fireball, as in previous flights, the rocket flipped into its vertical landing position and touched down in the Indian Ocean before falling over and floating on top of the water. “That is a first,” Dan Huot, communications manager for SpaceX, said during the livestream. “That is the softest splashdown we have ever had with the Starship there in the Indian Ocean.” Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the 13th flight test of Starship! pic.twitter.com/g27YJCQgiN — SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 24, 2026 The July 24 flight was the second test of Starship’s V3 rocket and the first flight to deploy Starlink V3 satellites, according to SpaceX’s website. SpaceX originally planned the test flight for July 16 but aborted just before the launch after some of the engines failed to start. In the first test of the V3, the rocket hit the Indian Ocean with a planned explosion. This time, the rocket bobbed gently in the water while waiting for the recovery team. The landing was so successful that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said SpaceX might try to catch the rocket on the next test flight. “Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight,” Musk said on X. Cameras on Starship continued sending video of the rocket after landing and provided views of the rocket’s heat shield, which was mostly intact. “This is the first time we’ve put an intact Starship in the water,” Huot said on the livestream. “This is a dream scenario for the team that’s trying to get this heat shield data.” Musk highlighted an X post showing the progress the company has made with the heat shield in four test flights. “Latest heat shield design looks great!” Musk said on X. Latest heat shield design looks great! https://t.co/PitlHFwilp — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026 NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman celebrated Flight 13’s successful launch. “Excited for what will be learned from this mission,” Isaacman wrote on X. “When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up the Moon again!” Pretty clear from this shot that @SpaceX knows where we are going! Congrats on getting Flight 13 underway. Excited for what will be learned from this mission. When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up… https://t.co/aTSUCqUPcB — NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) July 24, 2026 The successful flight is a major milestone for SpaceX as it prepares for NASA’s Artemis III mission. NASA partnered with SpaceX to create a version of Starship to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon, according to NASA’s website. This was the first test flight since SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took the company public in the largest initial public offering in history. “Lucky Number 13,” Huot said. “Hell of a flight for Starship.”