Is it really "space junk" if it was meant to fall back into the ocean during launch? I thought it meant the junk orbiting earth and pose a risk of orbital collisions.
> Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in space – principally in Earth orbit – which no longer serve a useful function.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris
If it's no longer in space, it's no longer "space junk".
There is literally nothing special about this part other than perhaps it floated and ended up in another country.