Elon Musk’s SpaceX Fails 3rd Rocket Landing

So what did Bezos do when SpaceX came close to pulling off the first landing of a used rocket booster on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean? The worldwide mission Jason-3, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) partnering with the United States space agency NASA, CNES (the French Space Agency) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, will continue to monitor and precisely measure global sea surface heights, observe the intensification of tropical cyclones and support seasonal and coastal forecasts.

The first stage of the rocket made it back to the platform, but one of the rocket’s legs failed to latch into position, subsequently breaking upon landing.

Today (Jan. 17), the company successfully launched an ocean-measuring satellite for NASA, and attempted to return the first stage of the rocket safely back to earth and land it on an unmanned ship floating off the California coast.

In his Instagram description, Musk said what caused the leg to lock might have been from “ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff”. Although the company did not provide any details regarding the unsuccessful attempt, it said on a webcast that the ocean waves were choppy.

Looks like SpaceX wasn’t able to keep the momentum going in its quest for reusable rockets. The goal is to save money by launching rockets multiple times instead of dropping them in the ocean. Nailing the landing is huge for SpaceX and space travel as a whole because Musk has previously said he believes reusing rockets – which cost as much as a commercial airplane – could reduce the cost of access to space by a factor of one hundred.

Jason-3’s launch was originally scheduled for August 2015 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The two billionaire CEOs have recently traded barbs on social media about their rockets.

The rocket launched as planned at 10:42 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles, sending its second stage and a Jason-3 satellite into orbit. SpaceX said the rocket appears to have had a hard landing and broken landing leg. Its condition was not immediately clear.

The 550 kg spacecraft is the fourth in a series of ocean-monitoring satellites taking centre stage in monitoring the earth’s climate. The satellite will carry on a mission that has continued unbroken since 1992.