On a foggy Sunday afternoon, SpaceX successfully launched the Jason 3 weather satellite into orbit on one of its prized Falcon 9 rockets. About 10 minutes after liftoff the first stage of its two-stage rocket headed back toward earth for an attempt at landing on an uncrewed, autonomous drone ship floating 186 miles south of the California launch site, in the Pacific.
Though SpaceX had planned to broadcast the landing attempt live, camera footage cut out seconds before touchdown. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has since released the first video footage of the landing attempt on Instagram. It shows just how close the company came to a second successful rocket landing:
As you can see, the rocket touched down just as it should have. The only problem was that one of the four landing legs, which help stabilize the rocket after touching down, did not lock into place and therefore gave in under the massive weight pressing upon it. This caused the rocket to tip over and explode upon impact.
In his Instagram description, Musk said the problem may have been "ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff." Still, according to a photo Musk tweeted of the aftermath, this rocket fared better than any before it, with large bits still intact after the explosion:
While this might not be a successful landing attempt, it's the closest SpaceX has come to landing and retrieving one of its Falcon 9 first-stage boosters onto a drone ship — a feat Musk says is critical to ensuring that SpaceX's fleet of reusable rockets can flourish.
So far, SpaceX has successfully landed one of its Falcon 9 rockets, on December 21. But the touchdown took place on land, which is very different from landing on a drone ship, Musk said:
Twice before Sunday, SpaceX had tried and not succeeded in landing its Falcon 9 boosters onto a drone ship. But with each new attempt, the company inches closer and closer to its goal. To compare the landing attempts for yourself, check out the earlier tries from January and April of last year in the two YouTube videos below:
