SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket. Landing on the platform again failed

March 5, 2016. Running Falcon 9

Tonight, the SpaceX rocket carrier of the SpaceX company successfully launched the SES-9 communications satellite into geostationary orbit, the launch of which was postponed four times due to the unsuccessful landing of the previous rocket, weather problems and technical problems. This time everything went fine. The rocket launched from the SLC-40 site at Cape Canaveral on March 5 at 2:35 Moscow time.

The video broadcast was on the SpaceX website . See live recording here .

After that, a more complicated experiment was to come: to land the first step on a moving floating platform.
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Live recording
The key points are marked on the timeline: engine start, takeoff, experimental landing of the first stage, placement of the satellite in the calculated point. However, at the moment of contact of the first stage, the connection with the platform was lost (18:30 video).


Unfortunately, the contact with the platform was too hard . However, a soft landing was still unlikely: in a press kit before launching, SpaceX had warned in advance that “a successful landing is not expected”. The reason is that the satellite had to be put into a high orbit, so there was little fuel left for landing.

This was the fourth attempt to land the first step on a platform in the ocean. All were unsuccessful. Last time, Musk joked about this: "At least now there are bigger pieces left."

At the same time, in December 2015, SpaceX was able to successfully land the first stage of the Falcon 9 on a concrete landing platform at Cape Canaveral.



Ilon Mask expressed the hope that the next attempt at landing on the barge would be successful.


If the first stage can be returned from space and reused, it will significantly reduce the cost of launching the cargo into orbit.