"Close But No Cigar," SpaceX Rocket Engine Suffers Hard Landing on Barge
A cargo resupply mission heads to the International Space Station, but fails to stick an ocean landing.
Space rocketeers at SpaceX just missed a catch on Saturday, failing in a bold first attempt to recycle a used rocket engine by landing it on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
"Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future," said SpaceX chief Elon Musk on Twitter. The touchdown would have been a first for ocean landings.
The landing attempt was made shortly after a flawless 4:47 a.m. (EST) launch of the resupply spacecraft from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The Dragon cargo spacecraft headed successfully to the International Space Station, bearing supplies and science experiments that will be delivered Monday to the orbiting lab. Less than three minutes into its flight, the cargo spacecraft
