Rocket part SpaceX misses safety net, plops into the sea

santa maria - Another special rocket launch of SpaceX, the company that recently shot a Tesla in space, but this time with a little less success. It was intended that a part of a launched rocket would return carefully to the earth, to plop into the safety net of a ship on open sea, so that it could be reused. However, the part just fell off and splashed in the water.

It was the hood that sits at the top of a rocket. That must protect the satellites on board against the forces of a launch. Once in space, the hood disappears. Then he returns to earth, hanging on parachutes. Such a hood costs several million dollars. SpaceX wants to reuse them, to make space travel cheaper and more accessible. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk thinks that catching can work with slightly larger parachutes.

The safety net hung from four large poles on top of the ship. Steven. That food on the Pacific. The rocket was launched from the Vandenberg space base in California.

The rocket brought a Spanish observation satellite and two small satellites from SpaceX itself into orbit around the earth. Musk wants to offer broadband internet coverage with such satellites worldwide. According to the first plans, more than 4,400 small satellites would have to be brought into orbit around the earth.