Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, Shares Images Of Falcon 9 Rocket Crashing Into Ocean Barge After Launch

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has shared images showing the hard landing of a rocket the company was trying to recover after a spacecraft launch, as part of its “reusable rocket” plan to reduce the cost of space travel.

The rocket, dubbed Falcon 9, powered the launch of the Dragon spacecraft, which was embarking on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The company hoped to recover the booster rocket, by landing it on an ocean barge, so that it might be reused, but the attempt did not go as planned, as the rocket slammed down on the barge harder than expected.

Musk, who initially said that good images of the landing had not been secured, shared pictures of the rocket striking the ocean barge hard early Friday. In a Twitter posting, Musk said: “Turns out we recovered some impact video frames from drone ship. It's kinda begging to be released…”

Images he subsequently shared documented the moment the rocket made contact with the barge, referring to it as a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly.”

Despite the failure of the rocket recovery test, Musk had previously expressed positive sentiments about the experiment. In a tweet in the aftermath of the crash, Musk said, “Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.”