"Ms Preston said it had been an amazing journey, and the Christmas Island community enjoyed being in the global spotlight.
"The decision being made to tow the rocket here when there's thousands of kilometres of coastline south of us, to be able to fulfil that role, to protect it whilst they did what they needed to do … it shows we've got alternate uses for positive things."
Expensive exercise
The journey of about 20,000 kilometres back to the Starbase rocket development facility in Texas is expected to take several weeks.
University of Sydney Professor of Marine Robotics Stefan Williams said the cost of the retrieval operation would add up quickly.
"We operate pretty regularly on research vessels which can cost $50,000 to $100,000 a day to operate, these are even bigger vessels," he said."
Framing: assertive ·
First seen: 2026-08-28 ·
Last seen: 2026-08-28 ·
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