SpaceX has once again come close to landing a reusable launch vehicle. This time, the Falcoln 9 seems to descend and land upright on a pad, then topple over.
“Looks like Falcon landed fine, but excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over post landing,” tweeted SpaceX founder Elon Musk shortly after the failed attempt on April 14.
Meanwhile, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President and COO, told Defense News that the company hopes its next attempted landing will take place on land, not at sea.
The instability of a floating landing pad has led to the series of near-misses, she said. The landing tests have so far taken place at sea for safety reasons.
“Just purely the boat moving, even in a low sea state, it’s hard to imagine that vehicle is going to stay vertical,” Shotwell said. “That vehicle is big and tall, compared to the itty-bity-greater-than-a-football-field-size ship.” (Watch video here, or see another version on YouTube)
