Watch SpaceX's rocket crash-landing

Last week, SpaceX tried to land a used-up rocket on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean so that it could be reused for a future mission.

No one had ever done this before, and the attempt was unsuccessful. CEO Elon Musk said that the rocket had simply landed too hard: in his words, "Close, but no cigar."

Today, SpaceX released a video of the landing:

Musk called the explosion a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" event, and explained that the rocket's landing systems didn't have enough hydraulic fluid to stabilize the rocket as it approached the platform.

But the good news is that just getting the rocket to the platform is a very impressive feat, and shows solid progress on the part of SpaceX. In two to three weeks, the company will try again, with more hydraulic fluid aboard.

Why SpaceX wants to land a rocket on a platform

The landing platform, which was damaged during the hard landing. (SpaceX)

Normally, rockets are simply allowed to break up into pieces or sink in the ocean after launching spacecraft into orbit. But one of the factors that make space travel so expensive is the fact that most of the equipment used to put cargo or people in orbit is destroyed after each use. Musk has famously likened this to throwing away a brand-new 747 after a single flight to London.

A controlled landing of a rocket — such as the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX launched last week, to carry an uncrewed space capsule up to the International Space Station to deliver cargo — could potentially let the company reuse the main component of the rocket in a future flight.

A long exposure photo of a SpaceX rocket launch in 2014. (SpaceX)

Building a new Falcon 9 costs $54 million, but using it to put a payload into orbit uses only about $200,000 worth of fuel. So figuring out how to reuse the rocket — something that no one has ever done before — could dramatically drive down the cost of space travel.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via