They thought the rocket was lost at sea. This morning it sailed into Texas.

Ship 40 splashed down intact in the Indian Ocean on July 24 — the first Starship ever to survive the trip home — and most people, including SpaceX's own engineers, assumed it would never be seen again. Then the salvage crews got to work: the 171-foot (about 52-metre) giant was towed past Christmas Island, across the open sea and into the Port of Brownsville just after dawn, where photographers and fans gathered to watch it come in. It is more than a trophy — the battered ship hands engineers their first look at what reentry and an ocean landing really do to a Starship, real-world homework no computer model can offer.