Watch SpaceX's Falcon 9 undergo 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' during barge landing attempt

Friday, January 16, 2015, 1:22 PM - The above animation shows the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, as it attempted a historic landing on an automated barge at sea. Although the landing didn't go off exactly as planned, the results were spectacular, but for the true experience, read on.

A little less than a week ago, SpaceX launched their Dragon cargo ship up to the International Space Station with a load of supplies. Shortly after Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage detached for the burn into low Earth orbit, the rocket's first stage slowly descended under rocket power, seeking out a small barge floating on the waters off the Atlantic coast. After completing that phase of the operation with amazing skill, the rocket then attempted to softly touch down on the surface of the barge.

Unfortunately,  as footage filmed by the drone barge revealed, the attempted ended when the rocket experienced what Elon Musk called a "Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly" or "Full RUD".

Here is the full, glorious landing attempt, via SpaceX's Vine account (if you're in a position to, turn the volume up!):

Wow!

Although it ended rather abruptly (and catastrophically for the rocket), that was pretty amazing!

As Elon Musk previously commented, this landing attempt "bodes well for the future" and the next attempt is two to three weeks from now, during SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch scheduled for January 29.