SpaceX and the Falcon 9 Hard Landing

The good news about SpaceX's fifth cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is that the cargo itself arrived at the station.  Of course, it arrived during a week when the occupants had to evacuate to one end of the station after a potential ammonia leak that turned out to be a false alarn, but that is not the fault of SpaceX. 

And what did the Dragon bring to the station?  Here is what SpaceX reported in its press kit:

The Dragon spacecraft will be filled with more than 5, 200 pounds of supplies and payloads, including  critical materials to support 256 science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 42 and 43. Science payloads will enable model organism research using fruit flies and will study flatworms to better understand wound healing in space.

One science payload is the Cloud – Aerosol Transport System (CATS), a laser remote sensing experiment that will orbit on the International Space Station. CATS will characterize and measure the worldwide distribution of clouds and aerosols: tiny particles that make up haze, dust, air pollutants and smoke. Knowing where aerosols are in the atmosphere can be critically important, as these particles can affect weather, climate, airplane safety, and human health. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, developed the instrument. For more on CATS, visit: www.nasa.gov/cats

The mission also delivers an IMAX camera for filming during four increments and tools that will be used in future spacewalks to prepare the station for the installation of the new international docking adapters. After four weeks at the space station, the spacecraft will return with over 3,600 pounds of cargo and packaging, including crew supplies, hardware and computer resources, science experiments, space station hardware and trash.

But with all this success, the mission was not what SpaceX wanted because the Falcon 9 first stage did not successfully land on the sea-based platform (though it did reach it).  Well, now we have some video and shots below of the hard landing from Elon Musk. Back to the drawing board.

Image Credits:  SpaceX