Incredible Moment Man Finds Space Rocket Debris on Remote Island

When exploring the beach during a vacation, you might expect to find some fascinating rocks or creatures near the sea. But one tourist was left stunned by the unexpected aerospace discovery he made during a snorkeling trip.

Mike Irmen was on vacation in Honduras last month when he visited nearby Cayos Cochinos to go snorkeling with his family. He heard that the area was incredible and wanted to see it for himself. However, it became even more memorable after discovering a huge piece of debris in the sand.

Irmen, of Dayton, Ohio explained to Newsweek that, as they were preparing to go into the water, he spotted something in the rocks and sand. When he got closer, he “knew it was something aerospace,” but wasn’t sure exactly what it could be.

As luck would have it, Irmen is an aerospace engineer, so the sight of this debris from a rocket was “super cool” for him personally. After sweeping away some of the sand, he saw the Arianespace logo, leading Irmen to believe this was part of the upper cowling of a rocket.

Newsweek reached out to Arianespace for comment.

“The upper cowling of a rocket covers the payload during launch, and then it jettisons from the rocket after it leaves the Earth’s atmosphere. It looked like it had been there a while since the salt water had corroded a bunch of the metal pieces,” Irmen said.

A description from the European Space Agency (ESA) explains that the Ariane 5 rocket fairing was required to protect against aerodynamic, thermal and acoustic phenomena during launch. Around three minutes after liftoff, when the launcher left the Earth’s atmosphere, the fairing was no longer needed and was jettisoned.

The fairing was a conical shape that consisted of two half shells, according to the ESA. While the panels were somewhat light, they had to be rigid enough to withstand atmospheric pressure on ascent.

Ariane 5 was once Europe’s principal launch system, the ESA says, flying 117 times between 1996 and 2023, launching from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Irmen estimates that the piece of debris that was marooned in the sand looked to be around 20 feet by 12 feet in size.

How Did Social Media Respond?

Knowing it had to be part of a rocket but not sure “exactly what it was,” Irmen sought the help of social media users by sharing pictures of his discovery on Reddit. Posting multiple photos as user u/Purdu787, he sought recommendations online.

Since it was shared on September 2, the post has gone viral with over 55,000 votes and more than 1,400 comments so far. Irmen has certainly been delighted by the overwhelming response he’s received already, as Redditors came out in force to share their knowledge.

“As I’ve worked on carbon fiber airplanes before, I knew this was something to do with aerospace because I could see the carbon fiber reinforced polymer honeycomb structure,” Irmen said.

“I knew that Reddit would be able to link it to the builder and find out what it was, and they made short work of doing that.”

With thousands of comments on the viral post already, Redditors were quick to share their theories.

One comment reads: “This is normal, they fall pretty early in the flight and this is one of the reasons launch sites are usually places with ocean on the east.”

“For those who don’t know, the fairing is the outer aero dynamic shell at the top of the rocket that covers the satellite/space probe/ etc. while it’s traveling up through the atmosphere. Once the rocket is high enough above the atmosphere and drag is no longer an issue, the fairing is ejected as it is no longer necessary and now just dead weight,” another comment reads.

“Seriously I will probably never find anything as cool as this,” a Reddit user wrote.

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