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SpaceX Launches Rocket, Fails at Soft Landing Attempt

© NASA PublicThis screenshot shows the SpaceX unmanned Falcon 9 rocket shortly after it was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Tuesday.
This screenshot shows the SpaceX unmanned Falcon 9 rocket shortly after it was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Tuesday. - Sputnik International
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Private space firm SpaceX launched its unmanned Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Tuesday afternoon, 24 hours after Monday’s launch was cancelled due to thunderstorms in the area.
© NASA PublicThis screenshot shows the SpaceX unmanned Falcon 9 rocket shortly after it was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Tuesday.
This screenshot shows the SpaceX unmanned Falcon 9 rocket shortly after it was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Tuesday. - Sputnik International
This screenshot shows the SpaceX unmanned Falcon 9 rocket shortly after it was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Tuesday.

The capsule atop the rocket is carrying grocery supplies up to the International Space Station.

The attempt to land the rocket on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean was unsuccessful, according to SpaceX head and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.

About 45 minutes after the launch, Musk tweeted: "Looks like Falcon landed fine, but excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over post landing."

The failed landing marks SpaceX’s latest attempt to prove its progress towards reusable rocket technology.

Usually, launch rockets are allowed to break up into pieces or sink into the ocean, but that has become an enormously costly practice, basically throwing away millions of dollars whenever a rocket is launched and never used again.

The International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-133 crew member on space shuttle Discovery after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 7 a.m. (EST) on March 7, 2011. - Sputnik International
SpaceX Aims to Return Rocket Safely After ISS Supply Mission Launch

Building a new one, for instance, costs $54 million. Reusing the rocket costs a fraction of that: about $200,000 for fuel.

The soft landing was attempted earlier this year, in January, but that rocket exploded on impact when it ran out of fuel on the way back. Scientists said they miscalculated how long it would take for the rocket to return, but they’re confident that it’ll work this time around. 


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