SpaceX released footage of a somewhat failed attempt to land the first stage of its rocket on a drone ship off the coast of Florida.
SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station on Tuesday at 4:10 p.m. ET, and it attempted to bring back part of its rocket -- the Falcon 9, which carried Dragon into space -- nine minutes later.
Although the rocket landed on the ship, the impact was too hard to maintain the integrity of the first stage of the rocket, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Ascent successful. Dragon enroute to Space Station. Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2015
Looks like Falcon landed fine, but excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over post landing pic.twitter.com/eJWzN6KSJa— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2015
This is the second failed attempt at landing the first stage of the rocket. The company aims to make parts of the rocket reusable to reduce the cost of future space missions. Since the first failed attempt, the drone ship has been updated to handle ferocious ocean swells.
The Falcon 9 rocket carries the Dragon capsule into orbit to deliver goods to the ISS. Eventually, the company says it will shuttle astronauts in the Dragon.