HAWTHORNE, Calif., Jan. 16 (UPI) -- SpaceX tried -- and failed -- to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating barge Saturday, but it came oh-so-close to success, a new video of the botched landing shows.
The aerospace company on Friday posted a video to Vine showing the rocket coming close to a soft landing on the sea platform, but instead crashing into it.
CEO Elon Musk tweeted Saturday morning that the rocket came down hard during the first attempt at a landing. He had predicted there was a 50 percent chance of success after the rocket launched a Dragon cargo capsule to resupply the International Space Station.
The aerospace company will continue trying for the landing; if successful, the reusable rocket can dramatically reduce launch costs.
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Musk tweeted SpaceX will attempt another soft landing in February.
Next rocket landing on drone ship in 2 to 3 weeks w way more hydraulic fluid. At least it shd explode for a diff reason.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2015"Next rocket landing on drone ship in 2 to 3 weeks w way more hydraulic fluid. At least it shd explode for a diff reason," he wrote on Friday.
In previous tests, the Falcon 9 would relight its engines to slow its descent back to Earth, where it simply hovered over the water before being lost without a platform to land on. Saturday's test was the first use of a drone ship for the landing.
The company had said a successful landing on this first test would be immensely difficult, not least because the landing ship is a moving target less than 100 meters wide. Despite the hard landing, the rocket hit its target -- an encouraging sign.
