SpaceX has had a troubled history with its early launches, and unfortunately the misery has been compounded by their latest mishap, confirmed by the aeronautics newcomer via their official Twitter.
First stage on target at droneship but looks like hard landing; broke landing leg. Primary mission remains nominal → https://t.co/tdni53IviI
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 17, 2016
Its Falcon 9 rocket conducted what they termed “a hard landing” during its attempt to come down in the sea. The company explained this was due to a leg lockout, which caused the rocket to topple at the worst moment. This is the third launch failure in recent times for Elon Musk’s outfit, which had a moment of success in December when it managed to successfully deploy satellite payloads with a highly impressive vertical landing. Despite this, SpaceX is still being viewed favourably by industry experts, who see it as a viable platform via which astronauts can be returned to space by the end of the next decade.
