Falcon Rocket's First Stage Crashes Onto Barge

A fourth consecutive successful droneship landing was not in the cards for SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday, June 15. Elon Musk tweeted that the first stage of the rocket had a “Rapid Unscheduled Dissembly” because of low thrust on one of its three landing engines. Video of the landing showed flames among the smoke on the barge, which Musk said was “still OK” despite what was “maybe hardest landing to date.”

Wednesday’s Cape Canaveral launch put two commercial communications satellites into orbit. Credit: SpaceX