SpaceX Falcon 9 Lands On A Ship, Then Explodes

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.

SpaceX conducted Sunday’s launch, which was made from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, for NASA. The rocket’s main mission, to launch the Jason-3 ocean monitoring satellite, was a resounding success. NOAA is partnering with NASA, the French Space Agency CNES, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

However, the unsuccessful landing on Sunday makes it the fourth time SpaceX has failed to land a rocket back on Earth. These have been crucial to tracking the sea level rise that has accompanied our changing climate. SpaceX’s previous landing attempts on droneships have ended in fiery blasts.

According to The Associated Press, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted a video of the landing attempt to his Instagram account. Nevertheless, despite the challenge of landing at sea, the company would like to ideal sea-based landings because that is how many of its rockets will have to be returned.

After sending the Jason-3 satellite into orbit the Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to land its discarded first stage on a floating barge in the Pacific Ocean.

With the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage and the Jason-3 satellite continuing toward orbit, SpaceX will now try to land its first stage on a floating barge in the Pacific Ocean.

It is hoped the data collected will be able to assist in management of fisheries and add to the research of the impact of humans on the oceans of the world.

Rockets are expensive. SpaceX rockets cost between $60 million and $90 million.

The Jason-3 spacecraft was delivered successfully into its intended polar orbit.

Another company official said the botched landing was secondary to the successful launch of the weather satellite. Barely three years ago, Mr. Musk and his team estimated the chances of pulling off the technical coup of retrieving a rocket for another flight to be one in five. Hopefully the next sea landing will be spot-on.