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Watch SpaceX’s reusable rocket come agonizingly close to safely landing on an ocean platform

Published Apr 15th, 2015 6:50PM EDT
SpaceX Rocket Ocean Platform Landing Video
Image: SpaceX

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SpaceX on Tuesday once again tried to safely land one of its game-changing reusable rockets onto an ocean platform and it came agonizingly close to being a success. Unfortunately, however, the rocket swerved slightly during the landing process and toppled over, thus marking the second time SpaceX has tried and failed to land on a moving platform in the ocean. All the same, SpaceX came much closer to succeeding in its second attempt than in its first, which resulted in an immediate explosion on impact.

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What is SpaceX’s fascination with reusable rockets, you ask? Well, a big problem with space travel right now is that it’s very wasteful — the rockets that help propel space shuttles into the atmosphere fall off once they reach a certain height and are often completely unsalvageable after they crash back down to Earth. In recent months the company started showing off its Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) rocket that can fly about 250 meters into the air before slowly descending back to earth and landing safely on the ground.

Check out the video of the SpaceX rocket’s second attempted ocean platform landing below.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.