SpaceX Rocket Is Possibility For Debris Found Near Cornwall, England

A metal section of what appears to be a SpaceX rocket, or at least a rocket bearing an American flag, was recently found in the sea near England's southwestern tip, the U.K. coast guard said, according to an NBCnews.com article.

The piece is about 33 feet by 13 feet and was located near the Isles of Scilly, a group of islands near the Cornish peninsula's southwestern tip. This is clearly not very near to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where SpaceX typically launches.

"I didn't know what it was," said Joseph Thomas, from Tresco Boat Services, who found the piece, BBC reported. We tried to drag it ashore using a hook, but it bent it," he was quoted in the report. "First thoughts were that it was part of a plane, but then we scraped the barnacles off and we saw it was part of a rocket."

When the company reported the find to the U.K. coast guard, they issued a warning to shipping vehicles in the area, according to a release.

There is some speculation (on Reddit's SpaceX thread) that the debris may be from a Falcon 9 rocket that successfully took off from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 21, 2014, bound for ISS with supplies. The rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere over the Atlantic off the U.S. East Coast.

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