Live updates: SpaceX launches unprecedented test flight of massive Starship, aiming for orbit

SpaceX’s last test flight in July — Flight 13 — was dubbed “Lucky 13” because of the pristine performance of the Starship spacecraft.

The ship, which bears the serial number “Ship 40,” made a nearly perfect splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Ship 40 performed so well, in fact, that it wound up gently tipping over after it powered down, leaving it floating atop the ocean, bobbing in the waves.

Musk then launched an attempt to drag the vehicle back to shore. CNN obtained satellite imagery that captured some of that effort, which involved deploying a fleet of rescue ships.

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It proved tough to navigate the floating ship — which is as large as a 17-story building — through wild waters.

SpaceX shared this dispatch on August 18: “After approx. 24 days at sea, the SpaceX Recovery team successfully guided Starship to a location just off the coast of Christmas Island,” it read, referring to the remote Australian territory that lies about 960 miles northwest of the mainland. (The island’s name, for the record, comes from the fact that it was first spotted on Christmas Day in 1643.)

“A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to Starbase,” the update said.

That analysis did, in fact, help inform changes on the vehicle flying today, SpaceX said. (It’s even outfitted with two of Ship 40’s heat shield tiles.)