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SpaceX’s first orbital-class Starship and Super Heavy to return to launch pad next week
CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX could return the first orbital-class Starship prototype and its Super Heavy booster to the launch site after rolling the rockets back to the factory for finishing steps.
In response to a video of Super Heavy Booster 4 (B4) returning to the build site, Musk rather specifically stated that both Booster for and Starship 20 (S20) will return to the orbital launch pad on Monday, August 16th. SpaceX returned Ship 20 to its ‘high bay’ vertical integration facility mere hours after the Starship was stacked atop a Super Heavy booster (B4) for the first time ever on August 6th. For unknown reasons, perhaps due to high winds, Booster 4 spent another five days at the pad before SpaceX finally lifted it off the orbital launch mount and rolled it back to the high bay, where it took Ship 20’s place on August 11th.
Almost immediately after S20’s August 6th return, its six Raptor engines were removed to make way for an engine-less proof test campaign that Musk has now implied could start as early as next Monday. Mirroring S20, SpaceX also begin uninstalling Super Heavy Booster 4’s 29 Raptor engines the same day it returned to the high bay.
Around 12 hours after the process began, SpaceX appeared to have removed 14 (just shy of half) of Super Heavy B4’s Raptor engines – a pace almost as spectacular as their 12-18 hour installation a bit less than two weeks prior. Aside from making engine removal dramatically easier, Musk says that SpaceX moved Ship 20 and Booster 4 back to the build site to expedite some minor final integration work – namely “small plumbing and wiring.”
However, aside from Raptor removal, the most obvious and significant work ongoing since the pair’s return to the high bay is the process of inspecting Starship S20’s heat shield and repairing or replacing broken, chipped, and loose tiles. Not long after Ship 20 arrived back at the build site, workers in boom lifts began a seemingly arduous process of inspecting the Starship’s nose heat shield and marking – with colored tape – hundreds of tiles with cracks, chips, or other less visible issues.
After several days of inspections and hundreds of tiles marked, SpaceX finally began the process of removing off-nominal tiles early on August 12th. According to NASASpaceflight.com, that removal process is not particularly easy and can require the use of power tools to effectively cut tiles off their embedded mounting frames. Given the amount of force required, some level of care is also almost certainly needed to avoid damaging any adjacent tiles, which could quickly cause a minor misstep to exponentially spread. Nevertheless, a small team of SpaceX technicians seemingly managed to remove no less than several dozen (and maybe 100+) broken tiles in a few hours.
Up next, those removed tiles will need to be replaced. Still, it remains to be seen if SpaceX will choose to fully complete Starship S20’s “98% done” heat shield before sending the ship back to the launch site for proof and static fire testing. To a degree, putting Starship through a gauntlet of ground tests with a full heat shield installed would be an excellent test of the resilience of its thermal protection system to major thermal stresses from frosty steel skin and expansion/contraction during fueling, as well as violent vibrations during static fires.
However, Starship S20’s heat shield is already so close to completion that it might be only marginally less valuable to save time by testing the vehicle as soon as possible.
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To an extent, Booster 4 is a much simpler case as Super Heavy needs to major thermal protection. However, according to Musk, some or all of Super Heavy’s 29 Raptor engines will need their own miniature thermal protection system – perhaps a flexible blanket-like enclosure not unlike what SpaceX uses to partially protect Falcon booster engines during reentry. It remains to be seen if Booster 4 will return to the launch site without engines for cryogenic proof testing or if SpaceX will install heat shielded Raptors before starting the first flightworthy Super Heavy’s first test campaign.
Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success.
SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas.
The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by increasing the acceleration of Starship from launch throughout the flight; 20 Starlink v3 satellites were released with no issue; the Super Heavy Booster landed safely in the Gulf of America, Ship successfully reignited engines while in space; and it also splashed down without incident in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Nevertheless, more details are coming out about Starship, and Musk is doing the talking.
Starship Will Be Retrieved in the Ocean
Musk revealed on Tuesday night that Starship would be recovered by a ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX routinely tries to recover Starship after splashdown in an effort to find out more about the flight by examining the spacecraft afterward.
We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship https://t.co/fUqUZTITO9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2026
This helps engineers find out more about why things might have happened, allows them to examine any potential damage or anomalies that might have occurred, and increases the chances of an even more successful flight next time thanks to the additional information recovered.
Ship Could Have Been Caught by Tower Arms, Musk claims
Musk has already indicated that SpaceX will plan to attempt a catch of Starship with the 14th test flight. While this would be a major accomplishment, it would be an expected next step, considering the fact that the Super Heavy Booster has already been caught by the chopsticks on numerous occasions.
The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms https://t.co/6nbNrRfX9P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
A ship catch would be a great indication of where SpaceX stands in terms of reusability and launch cadence. A successful catch with relatively no incidents would be a good sign that SpaceX is nearing a more frequent launch of Starship, but also that the reusability of the massive rocket would be something many would expect in the near future.
It is a necessity to make life multiplanetary.
Elon Musk has updated his timeline for when humans will walk on Mars and for when ships will simply get there.
The objective of getting to Mars has been one of Musk’s biggest goals since becoming a serial entrepreneur and realizing that time on Earth is limited. Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact.
Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.”
People on Mars in roughly 5 to 7 years.
Mars lander a few years sooner.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”
Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added.
Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.
In fact, the SpaceX and Tesla frontman has said on at least a dozen occasions that we could be on Mars in the coming years. Musk said 2020 would be the big year as early as 2009. In 2020, he was “highly confident” of a landing in 2026, and had even said 2024 in a best-case scenario.
The point is, the range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) got an absolutely crazy price target rating from Raymond James after the company experienced a tough first few weeks following its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Despite the tumultuous start, SpaceX has plenty of believers, and the company’s massively successful Starship launch last Friday, its 13th test flight of the massive rocket, went so smoothly that Raymond James analysts pushed its price target on the company to roughly 7 times its current trading level.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The firm officially put a “Strong Buy” rating and an $800 price target on the stock. It currently trades at around $113. Its all-time high is $225.64, reaching this trading level shortly after shares first went public.
Raymond James’ price target is tied to the firm’s confidence after Starship’s 13th test flight. Analysts at the firm said it was an incremental step that reduces engineering risks, citing the widely successful heat shield test that CEO Elon Musk recently detailed, the smooth deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, and a successful in-space engine relight.
SpaceX also managed to see Starship splash down safely in the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy Booster fell down to the Gulf of America with no incidents.
It is interesting to see these launches have such a tremendous impact on the stock and what investors think of it. After SpaceX initially delayed the Starship launch last week, shares fell tremendously. Most probably did not realize that the stand-down is a standard practice, especially if everything is not perfect.
The mission was initially aborted due to an issue with Raptor engines. This was resolved, and Starship launched last Friday after another delay on Thursday, which was caused by weather.
Now that analysts have seen what SpaceX launches are capable of and how impressive the feat is, firms are adjusting their price targets accordingly, making it known that they have high expectations for the space exploration company.
Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch
Elon Musk updates the SpaceX timeline for Mars
