'Hard landing' for SpaceX rocket on floating barge dims successful liftoff

Falcon 9 returned to Earth after ‘an excellent start with a great launch’SpaceX has attempted to land the 157ft-tall rocket before but failedSpaceX failed to land its reusable rocket on a robotic barge floating in the Pacific on Sunday, a little less than a month after Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company managed a historic landing on solid ground.The spaceflight company launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, near Los Angeles, at 10.42am. It delivered a Jason-3 satellite into orbit on behalf of Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 17, 2016 Category: Science Authors: Alan Yuhas Tags: Space US news Science Source Type: news