After aborting the mission on Monday, SpaceX was finally able to send its resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 14, Tuesday.
The sixth resupply mission, this is still part of the 12-mission contract with NASA to transport equipment and food to the ISS, at the same time, test its Falcon 9, reusable rocket. While the launch was successful, the landing was considered a failure once again.
SpaceX's launch vehicle is composed of a two-stage process, the Extreme Tech explained. The first stage, Falcon 9, is being powered by nine Merlin engines that has the capacity to produce almost 6000kN thrust. When the targeted altitude is achieved, the first stage will be dropped off, and the second will continue to orbit unmanned. This particular part successfully went off Tuesday and Dragon is already on its way to the ISS. Astronauts aboard ISS require supplies, a mission the SpaceX is expected to fulfill.
In a tweet by Elon Musk, the rocket was able to land well on the ship; however, it had tremendous lateral velocity and tipped over thereafter.
"Ascent successful. Dragon enroute to Space Station. Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival," Musk said.
The image also shows how the rocket swung to the sides before falling over, after.
Despite its "failure" status, it was still a step in the right path, NASA said. This last attempt following the Dragon mission failure in January 2015 when the rocket smashed into the ship's deck and the steering fins ran out of hydraulic fluid.
The next SpaceX Falcon 9 launch for the NASA missions is set to be executed on June 19.