SpaceX Rocket Misses Landing at Sea After Successful Satellite Launch
Source: Space.com
SpaceX Rocket Misses Landing at Sea After Successful Satellite Launch
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | March 4, 2016 07:00pm ET
After a series of delays, a SpaceX rocket soared into space to successfully deliver a commercial satellite into orbit, but couldn't quite manage to stick the landing during an audacious attempt to touch down on a drone ship at sea.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off in a brilliant launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida tonight, March 4, at 6:35 p.m. EST (2335 GMT). It's mission: Deliver the SES-9 commerical communications satellite into orbit for its Luxembourg-based customer SES. That part went fine, with the SES-9 satellite separating as planned from the Falcon 9 rocket and heading off toward its final orbit. The rocket landing, however, less so.
"Rocket landed hard on the droneship," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a Twitter update. "Didn't expect this one to work ((very) hot reentry), but next flight has a good chance."
SpaceX tried to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on "Of Course I Still Love You," one of two "autonomous spaceport drone ships" owned by the company, as part of a bold experiment for resuable rocket technology. The company publicly stated that the chances of success were slim, but it hoped to try anyway.
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Read more: http://www.space.com/32042-spacex-rocket-landing-crash-ses9-satellite-launch.html
