The accuracy was good, but the speed was too much. SpaceX’s historic attempt to gently land a used rocket on a floating barge failed on Saturday, New Scientist reports. Amid dark and foggy conditions, the depleted Falcon 9 landed right on the barge, but did not survive the impact. The ability to recover and reuse rockets could dramatically lower the cost of spaceflight, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who had estimated a 50% chance of success, is determined to try again in future launches. “Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho,” he tweeted.
This week, we bring you some spectacular footage of the crash. Check out Popular Mechanics’ coverage for a second-by-second breakdown of what went wrong, provided by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Twitter. In classic aerospace engineering fashion, Musk refers to the explosion as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” Understatement of the year? Props for even hitting the boat though, SpaceX: You’ll get ’em next time.