US space rocket debris found in sea off UK

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US space rocket debris found in sea off Scilly

A large chunk of an American space rocket has been found in the sea off the Isles of Scilly.

A large section of a spacecraft, measuring about 10m (32ft) by 4m (13ft), was spotted on the surface between Bryher and Tresco.

Coastguards believe it is from the unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 which exploded after take-offin Florida in June.

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Its possible because the payload section of the Falcon 9 is ca. 14m long and was maybe separated during the failure.

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Its possible because the payload section of the Falcon 9 is ca. 14m long and was maybe separated during the failure.

The debris is now believed to be from the interstage section of a different (successful) launch. From the updated BBC story (link as above):

However Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said many experts believed, due to the size and markings which have now been revealed, it was from a different mission.

"All the geeks have been getting together and looking at fine details, and we're pretty sure it's a launch from September 2014 that successfully sent a cargo mission to the space station.

"It didn't look like an exploded rocket to me, it looked like a fairly normal piece of space junk when the lower stage of a rocket falls from a hundred miles up and hits the ocean. Large sections can remain in tact and it's really quite normal," he said.

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Isles of Scilly US space rocket dismantled for removal

A section of a space rocket which was found off the Isles of Scilly, has been dismantled for disposal, its owners have confirmed.

The material would "probably" be shipped back to the USA, said California-based SpaceX.

The section, measuring about 32ft (10m) by 13ft (4m), was spotted between Bryher and Tresco on 26 November and brought ashore by boatmen.

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