SpaceX’s successful run of landing its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday.
READ MORE: How SpaceX lands the Falcon 9 rocket
After successfully delivering two satellites into space, the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket headed back to Earth. It was scheduled to land on its drone ship (named “Of Course I Still Love You” in honour of science-fiction writer Iain M. Banks) off the coast of Cape Canaveral. A live video feed showed the rocket reaching the ship, but was cut short and froze. It remained unclear whether or not it had landed safely.
About 15 minutes later, news came that it had been lost.
The private aerospace company, headed by Elon Musk, has made it a goal to reduce launch costs by landing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets back on Earth, and reusing the rocket at a later time.
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The last three attempts to land a Falcon 9 back on Earth were successful.
Musk took to Twitter to update the public on the landing.
Each landing of a Falcon 9 presents different challenges depending on the payload. In this case, as with the last launch, the altitude is higher, which makes it more difficult. That’s due the rocket’s velocity as it gets a satellite into geosynchronous orbit, about 36,000 km above the planet. Once the Falcon 9 begins to head back, it has to significantly reduce its velocity, which makes slowing down a challenge.
Musk said SpaceX will release the video sometime on Wednesday.
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