Footage by SpaceX uploaded to YouTube by Upload
Luckily, the landing platform survived the explosion and came back
to port with obvious burn marks but in overall good condition. It will
be used for the next landing attempt, scheduled for June 19.
Most
of the rocket was lost in the explosion, but you can see some few
surviving pieces strewn across the deck in the image above. Even one of
the rocket's legs survived the explosion, shown in the image below taken
by George Worthington and color-corrected by John Gardi.
Despite two misses, Musk is not deterred.
Shortly after confirming the throttle valve problem, he tweeted a
video of a Falcon 9 rocket test flight and landing at SpaceX's rocket
development facility in Texas, uploaded to YouTube in April of 2014.
Although the rocket's landing did not go according to plan, the other half of the launch mission was a success.
SpaceX Photos on FlickrSpaceX launch on April 14, 2015.
The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on April 17, supplying the astronauts on board with over 4,000 pounds of water, food, scientific experiments, technology, and even the first espresso machine ever to reach space. In many ways, these landing attempts on a floating platform are more difficult than the ultimate goal of setting these rockets down on land because the platform is susceptible to the harsh winds and rocky waves of the Atlantic ocean. The floating platforms, however, are tens of miles from land and therefore a safer testing ground far away from any residential areas.
That's why SpaceX will have to succeed in the ocean, first.
Check out a successful landing of a Falcon 9 rocket at SpaceX's rocket development facility:
