[devoutsalsa]

I was curious about the space shuttle solid rocket booster, so I looked it up...

Out of 270 SRBs launched over the Shuttle program, all but four were recovered – those from STS-4 (due to a parachute malfunction) and STS-51-L (Challenger disaster). Over 5,000 parts were refurbished for reuse after each flight. The final set of SRBs that launched STS-135 included parts that flew on 59 previous missions, including STS-1. Recovery also allowed post-flight examination of the boosters, identification of anomalies, and incremental design improvements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Boo...

[bryanlarsen]

It would have been cheaper to build SRB's from scratch every time than it was to rebuild them the way they did.

[NortySpock]

True.

I wonder if they could have done a mid-life-cycle design refresh to switch to kerlox boosters to try to recover them on land...

Politically untenable, of course, due to the Thiokol corporation lobbying for solid rocket boosters but...