Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 barge landing...

[botsapper]

...was on target but had "excess lateral velocity" and "landed too hard for survival'.
Damage control; SpaceX crash video to made available in a few days.
SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket crashes on barge landing attempt | The Verge

[botsapper]

...a sneak peek. https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/7A1A0...Od4zOemeP9waxc

...always wondered if a controllable small drogue chute help slow the descent speeds while the control retros do most of the heavy lifting. Almost too obvious, high wire acts, circuses and even the military use it; safety catch net.

[NeilBlanchard]

They will probably get this to work. If it was easy, it would have worked the first time; but it is worth doing.

[gone-ot]

Maybe they watched too many Sci-Fi movies in their youth, where the rockets landed tail-first without a problem.

[ME_Andy]

They can definitely get it working. How about some padded cables that spring up to catch the rocket after it makes contact?

[gone-ot]

Not EVERY helicopter landing is "silky smooth".

[Iexpedite]

I was stopped at a gas station outside Edwards AFB when SpaceShipOne was making its first trip into space. I was moving from NORCAL to Arkansas and I stopped for gas. While filling up I heard a sonic boom. I was looking around at the other people at the station and they didn't seem to notice. I wasn't sure what had cause it, but I mentally marked the time and a few weeks later I saw an aviation magazine touting the date and time it had happened. It was accidental but also fortuitous to have been there at that time and not sitting in the car with the radio going.

[Flakbadger]

Here's a link to the whole landing attempt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0

Looking forward to June 22nd, it's their next attempt at landing, and my birthday!