Boca Chica, Texas

SpaceX's Starship lifted off for its first test launch on April 20 and exploded minutes later. The spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster started tumbling down and burst after they were commanded to do so. Now the debris from the rocket is washing up on the shores surrounding the Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. 

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Pieces of the blown-up spacecraft are being discovered by people around the area. One such resident, Joe Tegtmeyer, tweeted a photo of himself holding up a portion of one of the 18,000 hexagonal heat shield tiles that covered a side of the rocket. "Look what I found!" he tweeted around nine hours after the Starship launch. 

One other person has also reportedly found a piece of the black and white ceramic tiles. 

SpaceX has asked people not to handle or retrieve the debris of the Starship, and contact the company on its hotline at 1-866-623-0234 or email the information to [email protected].

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"Teams are actively monitoring both message boxes and will ensure the notification is handled appropriately. We are unable to respond to every message received, but our teams will reach out as appropriate," SpaceX officials wrote. "If you have concerns about an immediate hazard, please contact your local law enforcement agency."

Also Read | WATCH | Moment when SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded after liftoff

After the biggest rocket ever to have been built exploded, temporary road and beach closures were ordered by local officials to help with clean-up efforts. However, the areas the fragments of the rocket might have ended in is likely to be huge and beyond the region where precautions were put in place. The rocket went well over the Gulf of Mexico, reaching an altitude of approximately 40 kilometres, which means the debris is probably scattered over a much larger area. 

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The black and white hexagonal tiles that covered one part of the Starship were supposed to protect the rocket against the tremendous heat of reentry into the Earth's atmosphere following the first stage separation. If the launch had been a success, the rocket would have fallen through Earth's atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii.

Why return the Starship debris?

The Starship launch was conducted under a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launch license. This means that it was being undertaken with the oversight of the United States. According to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, any debris of any spacecraft found anywhere on the planet remains the launch operator's property. So all pieces of the Starship should be returned to SpaceX. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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