SpaceX Landing Crash HD Video Here; Rocket Explosion Captured

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Apr 16, 2015 07:21 AM EDT

SpaceX launched Falcon 9, a reusable rocket that carried a cargo spacecraft called Dragon. The rocket was launched last Tuesday afternoon but failed to cleanly land on a platform out at sea.

The company CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the rocket launch was successful but the landing was "too hard for survival." CNBC reports that the rocket's recovery technology would yield massive cost savings as the vehicle could be reused.

According to Musk's statement on the SpaceX website, reusability is the key. "If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred. A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space."

Here's the full HD video featuring the failed landing of a SpaceX rocket as it tipped over the sea platform and exploded.

 

The SpaceX capsule attached to the Falcon 9 rocket holds 4,000 pounds worth of NASA supplies, most of it food, for the International Space Station (ISS).

This was the second failed attempt at launching the rocket. The first one was trying to land a Falcon 9 on the drone ship where it exploded after it hit an angle last January, according to CNN.

According to Extreme Tech, Space X's launch has two-stages. The first stage of the Falcon 9 is fueled by nine Merlin engines at 6000 kN. After the rocket reaches the prescribed altitude, the plan goes on the next stage where a Merlin vacuum engine will orbit with the Dragon capsule.

The idea of the SpaceX's reusable rocket technology is to let the first stage of the Falcon 9 go for a vertical landing to be refueled for another launch. The usual method was letting the first stage fall off into the ocean.

The rocket's second attempt at landing was fun but it tipped over because it had too much "lateral velocity," Musk tweeted. It may have been a failure but it yielded a significant contribution, according to NASA.

If SpaceX can successfully land rockets vertically, it can decrease the cost sending interspace cargo. Once the landing procedure is refined, SpaceX will bring the reusable rockets to land to be quickly refueled for the next launch.

The next launch for NASA by Falcon 9 is scheduled for June 19 this year, as reported by Extreme Tech. 

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