SpaceX landing attempt 'close, but no cigar' says Elon Musk

Saturday, January 10, 2015, 8:06 AM - Saturday morning's SpaceX launch to the International Space Station lifted off as planned, however, the attempt to land the rocket's first stage on a barge at sea did not go as well. CEO Elon Musk called it "close, but no cigar" but said it "bodes well for the future."

Once the Dragon and second stage of the Falcon 9 had separated off, to boost into low-Earth orbit, the first stage of the rocket descended towards the Atlantic Ocean. However, rather than simply splashing into the water, like every other rocket first stage has done before, this one attempted an upright landing on the surface of a small barge floating on the water, which SpaceX calls an 'autonomous spaceport drone ship'.

Although SpaceX had given the landing a 50-50 chance of success, Elon Musk recently went on record, during a Reddit AMA, stating: "I pretty much made that up. I have no idea :)"

Given that this was the first time this had ever been tried, the attempt went fairly well, up to a point. The rocket was successful in rendezvousing with the barge, but it failed to 'stick' the landing, it seems.

The Dragon spacecraft was now set to rendezvous with the ISS on Monday, Jan 12, delivering a load of cargo to the International Space Station.

Packed away in the craft's hold, in amongst the parcels of food and supplies, are components for over 250 science experiments, including one - involving crystal growth in space - designed by four elementary students from Kamloops, British Columbia. Also, a new NASA mission to be installed on the exterior of the space station - called CATS or Cloud-Aerosol Transport System - which will scan Earth's atmosphere for clouds, dust, smoke and other aerosols, to provide more accurate data for weather, climate and air quality forecasting.