SpaceX CRS-5 Launch Successful; Landing "Close But No Cigar" – UPDATE

SpaceX founder and Chief Designer Elon Musk reported early this morning (January 10) that the landing of his Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship did not go as planned:  “Close, but no cigar.”  However, the main objective of the launch today was sending a Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) and that part of the mission is proceeding flawlessly.

Liftoff of this fifth SpaceX operational cargo resupply mission, SpaceX CRS-5 or SpX-5, was on time at 4:47 am EST this morning from Cape Canaveral, FL.  The countdown proceeded without a hitch this time, unlike the previous launch attempt on Tuesday when launch was scrubbed with just over one minute to go because of a malfunctioning second stage thrust vector control actuator. SpaceX replaced that actuator for today’s launch.

The first and second stages of the Falcon 9 rocket performed as planned, placing Dragon into the correct orbit for it to reach the ISS on Monday at about 6:00 am EST.  It carries 5,108 pounds of food, water, clothing, experiments and equipment for the six-person crew living aboard the space station.

Delivering cargo for NASA is the main job, but interest in the launch was especially high because of SpaceX’s test of landing the Falcon 9 first stage on a platform in the ocean — an “autonomous drone ship.”  The company already successfully conducted two “landings” on water, but the stage, of course, tipped over into the water at the end.   Today’s test was to have a survivable landing. The tests are related to Musk’s goal of developing a reusable rocket.  The only reusable launch vehicle successfully developed and flown to date was the U.S. space shuttle.  The shuttle’s airplane-like orbiters, which included the system’s three main engines, and its solid rocket boosters were all reusable.  The shuttle program was terminated in 2011 after 30 years of flights.

Today, one of the nine Falcon 9 first stage engines reignited for the “boost back” stage of the flight and it reached the ship, but “landed hard” as Musk tweeted (@elonmusk) in the first of several messages throughout the morning:

“Rocket made it to drone ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time.  Bodes well for the future, tho.”

“Ship itself is fine.  Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced ….”

“Didn’t get good landing/impact video.  Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and … actual pieces.”

“Grid fins worked extremely well from hypersonic velocity to subsonic, but ran out of hydraulic fuel right before landing.”

“Upcoming flight already has 50% more hydraulic fluid, so should have plenty of margin for landing attempt next month.”

“Am super proud of my team for making huge strides towards reusability on this mission,  You guys rock!”

On January 16,  Musk tweeted video taken by a camera on the done ship of the first stage crashing into it.   The video does not appear to be posted on SpaceX’s website, but other sites, such as SpaceflightNow.com, have done so.

Note:  This article was updated shortly after noon EST on January 10 (the day of launch) with more of Musk’s tweets and deleting the reference to a NASA press conference that had been scheduled for 6:30 am, but subsequently cancelled.  It also was updated on January 17 with the link to the video of the crash landing on the drone ship.