Musk’s SpaceX Launches Jason 3 Rocket, but Explodes on Attempted Sea Landing

Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched its reusable Falcon 9 rocket into space carrying NASA’s new ocean satellite.

The landing, however, didn’t go so well.

The private SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to return to a drone platform in the Pacific Ocean after launching the Jason-3 ocean monitoring satellite into orbit.

The rocket took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The Jason-3 satellite weights 1,124 pounds and is about 3.3-feet on each side. The launch was SpaceX’s second take-off from Vandenberg, which was shrouded in a deep fog.

The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 4E, the launch pad that was used for Atlas rocket launches from 1962 to 2005. SpaceX took over that pad starting in 2011.

The launch went off without a hitch. The first stage booster was expected to return to the drone platform. Touchdown was expected to take place within minutes of the launch.

The livestream recorded the takeoff fine, but the video cut out as the team was awaiting the return of the first stage to the launch pad. SpaceX ended up tweeting that the landing had failed.

Although the vehicle made it to the ship, one of its landing legs broke. This is the third time the company has failed to land its rocket on the floating ship. The satellite was successfully deployed into low-earth orbit. But it’s not clear how much damage the rocket booster sustained.

As far as private space competition goes, Musk’s SpaceX aims to pull further ahead of other tech mogul-backed space companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Paul Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace.