A pioneering rocket crashed and burned when it tried to make an ocean landing.
SpaceX was attempting to land a Falcon 9 rocket on a floating barge when it toppled over and exploded.
Company founder Elon Musk tweeted that the rocket’s speed at touchdown was good, “but a leg lockout didn’t latch, so it tipped over after landing”.
Speculating on the cause of the failure, Musk added: “Root cause may have been ice build-up due to condensation from heavy fog at lift-off.”
The rocket had successfully delivered a Jason-3 climate-monitoring satellite into orbit after launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, north west of Los Angeles.
SpaceX hopes to reduce launch costs by reusing rockets rather than having them fall into the ocean.
The explosion was a setback for the programme, which successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket on Earth after delivering satellites to orbit before Christmas.
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