A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches the X-37B space plane on the USSF-52 mission for the U.S. Space Force on Dec. 28, 2023 from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The ex-plane emerges on the other side in pieces about half a centimetre in length. “This stuff is high quality aluminium. It becomes, at a minimum, car parts,” says Mr Raine.