WATCH THIS: See the moment SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket landing went wrong

Yesterday afternoon, everyone, SpaceX included, expected another successful launch and landing of its Falcon 9 rocket as it delivered a weather satellite into space. Having already performed a successful vertical landing only weeks before, the same result was expected, even though it’d be landing on a sea barge instead of on dry land.

As you can probably tell, everything went wrong when the Falcon 9’s landing legs didn’t lock in place and stabilise the landing.

While SpaceX broadcasts its takeoffs and landings, the live feed cut just before the Falcon 9 rocket touched down on the autonomous sea barge. But, thanks to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, we can finally see just how painfully close the team came to a second successful launch.

Musk cites “ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff” as the most likely reason for the failed landing. While that’s not great news, it’s not a serious and unfixable fault, meaning Musk and the SpaceX team are still one step closer to a successful landing at sea attempt – something Musk knows is integral to SpaceX’s vision of a future of reusable rockets.

I have to say that, while it’s a real shame SpaceX didn’t succeed, the video of the rocket landing is mesmerising.

If you want more of a feel-good video, here’s SpaceX celebrating its successful landing before Christmas