Hard landing of the first stage of Falcon 9 launcher / twitter.com/elonmusk
Musk said that Falcon 9 “tipped over past landing” due to a malfunction of one of the four landing legs.
“Root cause may have been ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff,” said Musk.
The record shows the stage exploding on impact.
Видео дня
Musk has earlier tweeted a photo of Falcon 9’s first stage after a hard landing.
Well, at least the pieces were bigger this time! Won't be last RUD, but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing. pic.twitter.com/w007TccANJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016
Yesterday, the U.S.-based SpaceX launched a $180-million satellite to study sea level rise. However, the company failed to perform successful landing of a booster on a floating platform.