SpaceX Launches Satellite – But Crash Lands

SpaceX says its Falcon 9 rocket toppled over upon landing on a floating ocean barge because one of its support legs didn’t lock as planned.

The Jason-3 launch took place at approximately 10:42 a.m. local time – as scheduled – from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, along California’s Central Coast.

SpaceX and other private spaceflight companies want the capability of bringing their rockets back for upright landings to reduce the cost of space travel.

The satellite is being delivered to low-Earth orbit for multiple agencies, including NASA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, France’s space agency (CNES) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

The rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sunday night (AEST) and successfully placed the $180-million satellite, Jason-3, into orbit. The five-year mission of the satellite will be to study more precisely the global warming and sea level rises are affecting wind speeds and currents, up to as close to the shore as about a half-mile.

In another message, he quipped that “at least the bits were bigger this time”, suggesting the landing was more controlled than last year’s two sea-landing efforts that also ended in sizable explosions following heavy landings on the barge’s deck.

Elon Musk shared a video on Instagram that shows the landing of stage 1.

Just a month after it successfully landed a rocket vertically on land, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was back at it today, with its latest launch providing a mixed bag of success.

The landing was so precise, SpaceX said it was within about 4 feet of the droneship’s center. Attempts to land the first stage of the rocket on ships, known as drone ships, in January 2015 and April 2015 failed.

SpaceX said it lost contact with its live video link of the floating barge, or droneship, before the rocket came in for a landing, so no images were immediately available.

Still, SpaceX said, it wants to have the options for both at-sea and on-land landings.

Jason-3 data will also benefit fishery management, marine industries and research into human impacts in the world’s oceans.

“I’m pretty hopeful, ” SpaceX Vice President of Mission Assurance Hans Koenigsmann said during the press conference before the launch, according to Gizmodo.