While you might think that SpaceX would want to hide its failed landings, Elon Musk’s firm has done the opposite.
SpaceX has published a hilarious ‘blooper reel’ video that collates all of the firm’s failed rocket booster landings.
The video shows a range of issues, including exploding rockets, engine sensor failures and a sticky throttle valve.
SpaceX posted the video on YouTube today, with the title ‘How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster.’
It is set to the song ‘Liberty Bell’, which is also the Monty Python theme song, helping to infer the light-hearted spirit of the video.
Along with each clip is a caption explaining why the landing failed.
In September 2013, a rocket booster exploded after making a hard landing on water, while in July 2014, a rocket booster broke apart after tipping.
And in one hilarious clip, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, can be seen examining one of the boosters after it explodes.
In September 2013, a SpaceX rocket booster exploded after making a hard landing on water (pictured)
He comments: ‘Rocket is fine? It’s just a scratch,’ regardless of the fact that it is in pieces.
In January 2015, a rocket booster exploded on its landing pad after it ran out of hydraulic fluid.
But the caption jokes: ‘Well, technically, it did land…just not in one piece.’
In July 2014, a rocket booster broke apart after tipping, and pieces were strewn across the ocean
And a sticky throttle valve thwarted a rocket-landing attempt in April 2015.
The booster gets tantalising close to an upright landing, but then tips over and explodes.
‘Look, that’s not an explosion…it’s just a rapid unscheduled disassembly,’ the video states.
In August 2014, an engine sensor on the rocket booster failed, causing it to dramatically explode and fall to Earth
In one hilarious clip, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, can be seen examining one of the boosters after it explodes. He comments: ‘Rocket is fine? It’s just a scratch,’ regardless of the fact that it is in pieces
The video skips over SpaceX’ first successful rocket landing in December 2015 and goes straight to January 2016.
In this failed attempt a landing leg collapsed during touchdown, causing the Falcon 9 booster to tip over and explode.
In March 2016, a landing engine burn failed, and the booster hit the platform too quickly, exploding.
In January 2015, one of the rockets ran out of hydraulic fuel, causing it to dramatically crash and explode onto the landing pad
‘The course of true love never did run smooth,’ a video caption reads.
In May 2016, the booster can be seen jumping about on its drone ship due to a radar glitch that damaged the landing legs.
In a June 2016, he booster ran out of propellant resulting in another failed attempt.
A sticky throttle valve in April 2015 made this rocket tip over and explod into flame after it landed
SpaceX made its first successful drone ship landing in April 2016.
‘You are my everything,’ the SpaceX video states.
Musk teased the video’s arrival last week: ‘Putting together SpaceX rocket landing blooper reel.
In June 2016, this rocket ran out of propellant, causing it to burst into flames and explode on the landing pad
While the video highlights the unsuccessful attempts, that’s not to say that SpaceX hasn’t made any successful landings
‘We messed up a lot before it finally worked, but there’s some epic explosion footage.’
While the video highlights the unsuccessful attempts, that’s not to say that SpaceX hasn’t made any successful landings.
Since its first successful landing in December 2015, SpaceX has only crashed three of the rockets that it intended to land.
And the firm hasn’t lost a first stage in an attempted landing since June 2016.
In that same time, SpaceX has completed 16 successful Falcon 9 first stage landings.