SpaceX botches ocean landing attempt

Hans Koenigsmann, vice-president of mission assurance for Space-X, said the current rocket would have been able to return to land but the company does not have environmental approval at Vandenberg yet.

Musk, like others, is working to recover the rockets in an attempt to lower the cost of space travel, so that it can become more accessible to the masses. The program was canceled in 2008.

“Just to re-emphasize: this is a test that we’re doing today”, said Kate Tice, a SpaceX engineer who co-hosted the live broadcast. In December, the company completed a successful vertical landing of a rocket in Florida. SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is NASA’s launch service provider of the Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA launched Jason-3 into orbit for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the French space agency and EUMETSAT, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

The problem with the most recent attempt at landing was due one of the legs on the rocket that did not lock into place as anticipated and the rocket tipped over after landing.

Boyle said SpaceX eventually hopes to get clearance to use what it calls “Landing Zone 2” on the U.S. West Coast. No further details were immediately available.

However, the SpaceX launch succeeded in sending the US- and European-owned Jason-3 satellite into orbit.

The goal of the mission was to launch the Jason-3 satellite into an orbit inclined 66 grades relative to the equator, at a distance of 830-mile from the Earth’s ground.

Booster rockets have typically been left to tumble back to Earth after launch, leaving them broken up by the intense heat of re-entering the atmosphere.

SpaceX was unsuccessful in its attempt to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the Pacific ocean on Sunday January 17.

Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base is scheduled for 10:42 a.m. PST (1842 GMT).

SpaceX successfully launched a satellite for NASA on Sunday, but a much anticipated attempt to land a rocket on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean did not go as planned.

The rocket was carrying a Jason-3 satellite, the newest in the series, company officials said.

The $180 million mission is expected to operate for at least five years.