SpaceX Rocket Landing Failed: Here’s What We Know So Far

A rocket that propelled an ocean-monitoring satellite into space has toppled over while landing on a floating barge after one of its support legs failed to lock.

The rocket had blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base California and successfully put Jason-3, a $180-million climate-monitoring satellite, into orbit before heading back to land on the platform.

But, SpaceX, the company led by internet and business magnate Elon Musk, said after the landing on Monday morning (AEST) that it was disappointed because it wanted to reuse the parts to enable more sustainable and cheaper spaceflights in the future.

While the landing attempt was not successful, SpaceX achieved its primary goal, which was to deploy its cargo into orbit – the Jason-3 satellite, which is created to measure ocean height across the globe and track sea level rise.

The company successfully lifted off out of Vanderberg Air Force Base in California, but its attempt to land the rocket failed. This was the fourth time a rocket failed to complete the landing process at sea.

During a five-year mission, its data will also be used to aid fisheries management and research into human impacts on the world s oceans. The rocket landed a mere 1.3 meters from the center of the platform on the vessel. Not only SpaceX alone is launching the satellite, instead it is the fruit of a four-way partnership between NOAA, NASA, the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

In Pasadena, Jet Propulsion Lab scientists had established radio and video contact with Jason 3, the new weather satellite, and said its twin solar arrays unfolded correctly. “One of the landing legs may have broken on touch down”, a SpaceX spokesperson announced during a live broadcast of the event.

SpaceX said that the stage landed softly but leg 3 didn’t lockout.

SpaceX has tried several times a year ago to land its rocket booster on a drone ship in the ocean, but all without success. “Won’t be last [Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly], but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing”. Initial announcements suggested that the autonomous drone ship experienced hard landing.