NPR

SpaceX Completes Successful Launch, Narrowly Misses Catching $6 Million Nose Cone

As part of his "rocket reusability" ethos, Elon Musk had hoped to use a giant net on a boat to catch the rocket's protective covering. It turns out it's hard to catch stuff falling from space.

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket Thursday morning.

But the hard part came next: trying to catch the rocket's falling nose cone with a big net on a ship in the ocean.

Wait, what?

Part of the SpaceX ethos is "." By reusing as much of the rocket as possible,

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