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16 January 2015
Elon Musk shares dramatic imagery and video of mostly successful Falcon 9 1st recovery attempt, hard landing on Drone Ship
Image above: Elon Musk commented on his tweet: Full RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) event. Ship is fine minor repairs. Exciting day!
Dramatic new photos and video of the daring and mostly successful attempt by Space X to land their Falcon 9 booster on an ocean-going “drone ship” were released this morning, Friday, Jan. 16, by SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk.
Musk posted the imagery online via his twitter account (@elonmusk) and they vividly show just how close his team came to achieving total success in history’s first attempt to land and recover a rocket on a tiny platform in the ocean.
Falcon 9 rocket crash on SpaceX landing barge
Musk described the attempted rocket landing last weekend as "close, but no cigar" — but this assessment doesn't really do these images justice.
The 14-story-tall Falcon 9 rocket is seen hitting the deck of the barge at a 45-degree angle as the four stabilizing fins lose hydraulic power.
The engines then fire in an attempt to restore balance but it's too late and the rocket smashes into the deck of the ship.
SpaceX landing barge docked
The four images tweeted by Musk, who cheerfully sums up the situation: "Full RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) event. Ship is fine minor repairs. Exciting day!"
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