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<\/p>\nA large space rocket belonging to Elon Musk’s SpaceX is being towed to the shores of Christmas Island after landing in the Indian Ocean, in an unusual spectacle for locals.<\/p>\n
People on the remote Australian territory have lined up in droves along the rugged coastline to watch the rocket being towed by two large boats.<\/p>\n
Christmas Island Tourism Association chair David Watchorn said it was “incredible” to see the spaceship up close.<\/p>\n
“We’d heard some rumours that [SpaceX] might be coming to Christmas Island \u2026 and it was just there, huge,” he said.<\/p>\n
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Two large ships tow in a piece of space debris off the coast of Christmas Island. (Instagram: @chrisbrayphotography)<\/p>\n
“The boats out were super excited, you could see quite a number of vessels being launched off the boat around this morning to go and have a look.”<\/p>\n
Mr Watchorn said an exclusion zone was in place so vessels could not venture too close to the debris.<\/p>\n
Hospitality owner Rachel Kucera said locals had flocked to her cafe today to see the space shuttle float past.<\/p>\n
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A rocket is being towed off Christmas Island, drawing crowds of locals to the coastline to catch a glimpse. (Supplied: David Watchorn)<\/p>\n
“Everyone’s been pretty fascinated by it I think, I don’t think it’s anything that we were ever expecting.”<\/p>\n
Christmas Island-based photographer Chris Bray, who usually focuses on wildlife, said the sight of the ships towing the rocket had become “the talk of the town”.<\/p>\n
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A floating spaceship is seen in waters off Christmas Island on Tuesday. (Instagram: @chrisbrayphotography)<\/p>\n
“At the moment it’s just kind of hanging around off the sheltered side of the island and everyone’s driving along to little vantage points to try and get a view of it,” he said.<\/p>\n
Recovery mission<\/p>\n
US tech billionaire Musk’s Starship Ship 40 was launched on July 24 from Texas, and after a successful mission re-entered the atmosphere and landed in the Indian Ocean far off the coast of Western Australia.<\/p>\n
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The Go Australis ship is next to suspected space junk in the waters off Christmas Island.\u00a0 (Supplied: David Watchorn)<\/p>\n
Mr Musk publicly confirmed last week an effort was underway to retrieve it.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Australian Space Agency said the Australian government was coordinating with SpaceX to recover the Starship.<\/p>\n
“SpaceX has towed the vehicle to Christmas Island after it re-entered and landed in international waters,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
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Elon Musk is the Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla. (Reuters: Gonzalo Fuentes)<\/p>\n
“Questions regarding Starship recovery operations and any future plans for Starship’s return to the United States should be directed to SpaceX.”<\/p>\n
The company has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n
Space junk common<\/p>\n
The space junk discovery off Christmas Island comes after a four-tonne abandoned upper stage of a SpaceX rocket<\/a> crashed into the moon two weeks ago, creating a visible crater and thrusting the issue into the public discourse.<\/p>\n Space archaeologist and Flinders University associate professor Alice Gorman said Australians should expect to see a lot more space junk over the next few years, given the surge in launches.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n “A study that was done a few years ago showed that as the number of launches increased, we specifically in the Southern Hemisphere are likely to get more space junk than the Northern Hemisphere is,” she said.<\/p>\n “Australia has a very large land mass so things have a lot of space to land on; we also have a lot of coastline too.”<\/p>\n There have been several space junk incidents in Australia over the past few years.<\/p>\n \u00a0Most recently, several metallic “space balls” were discovered on a north Queensland beach in July<\/a>, which the Australian Space Agency confirmed were likely from a space launch vessel.<\/p>\n In October last year, space junk believed to be from a Chinese rocket was found near a mine site in Newman<\/a> in WA’s north.<\/p>\n