SpaceX's Starship recovery program remains at a delicate point: first-stage
booster recoveries have succeeded multiple times, while the ship-capture
"chopsticks" technique has been validated but needs higher success rates. The
Starship second stage has not yet achieved repeatable recovery, though on the
13th test in late July the S40 vehicle completed a full soft splashdown in the
Indian Ocean without exploding or rapid sinking, which bolstered the team. Musk
said on Aug. 4 SpaceX planned a late-August attempt to recover both stages, but
on Thursday he warned that recovery plans could be delayed by several months. He
added that if SpaceX had built a launch tower at the splashdown training site
initially, the vehicle might already have been recovered; the next test could
now occurs at year‑end or in early next year.
