WATCH ABOVE: Footage of SpaceX falcon rocket launch for NASA.
TORONTO – While SpaceX successfully launched supplies destined for the International Space Station, its attempt to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on an ocean platform didn’t go as well.
The mission will deliver more than two tons of supplies and science experiments to the orbiting science platform, the fifth SpaceX mission to do so.
The attempt to land the Falcon 9 is the first for a crew resupply mission. The private space company has attempted this twice before, one after successfully delivering six satellites into space.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk took the failed landing in stride.
Prior to the launch, SpaceX said the chance of success was 50 per cent. However, when asked in a Reddit Ask me Anything forum earlier this week how he came to determine the chance of success, Musk quipped, “I pretty much made that up. I have no idea.”
While the landing may not have gone as planned, the launch was a success for NASA.
“We are delighted to kick off 2015 with our first commercial cargo launch of the year,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden. “Thanks to our private sector partners, we’ve returned space station resupply launches to U.S. soil and are poised to do the same with the transport of our astronauts in the very near future.”
NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore will grapple the Dragon spacecraft at 6:12 a.m. Monday.
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