‘Close, but No Cigar’ for Landing on Historic SpaceX Mission
Published at
Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — A SpaceX rocket blasted off early Saturday morning with cargo for the International Space Station – but according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the mission’s historic efforts to land the leftover booster on an ocean barge was unsuccessful.
“Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for future tho,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2015
Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2015
Didn’t get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and … actual pieces.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2015
The SpaceX mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:47 a.m. ET with 5,000 pounds of supplies on board for the astronauts.
Shortly after liftoff, the rocket detached and began a controlled descent to Earth, with SpaceX officials hopeful that the rocket would make a pinpoint landing on a floating platform.
Having the ability to recycle rockets is something Musk previously said will “revolutionize access to space.”
This is the fifth launch to the space station for the private company, which is filling in the gap for NASA with cargo deliveries that were slowed down when the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.