SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket explodes on landing on drone ship

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on Wednesday afternoon when it landed on a drone ship. One of the rocket engines was malfunctioning, causing it to go wrong. The previous landings of a Falcon 9 from SpaceX were successful.

SpaceX broadcasted a live stream, but the image went out just before landing. SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted that the missile experienced a ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’, a euphemism for an explosion.

It issue lay near one of the three engines that had to take care of the landing. It showed low thrust. Musk said on Twitter that the problem will be resolved by the end of the year by compensating for the lack of thrust.

The rest of the mission was successful. The SpaceX rocket was unmanned, so damage was limited to equipment. The images of the failed landing will probably be online later on Wednesday.

Image of the Falcon 9 taking off, which exploded on landing