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Tech

Watch SpaceX Almost Land a Rocket, From a GoPro

There's a massive explosion, don't worry.

​At this point, I am not convinced that there is a thing that can destroy a GoPro. The other day, ​we watched SpaceX almost land a rocket on a drone boat—it tipped over, blew up into a million little pieces, and was highly entertaining to watch. Thing is, SpaceX also tosses GoPros onto the boat, which is how you end up with footage like this.

We've ​written at length about what SpaceX is trying to do, but here's a quick reminder: Launching a rocket is very expensive, in part because rockets are disposable. You spend millions of dollars on engines, sensors, etc., and you ditch them in the ocean. SpaceX has been trying to reimagine how rockets work, by landing entire stages of the rocket in order to reuse them. If it works, it'll bring down the overall costs my several orders of magnitude. SpaceX hasn't nailed it yet, but it's getting close. And it sure is fun to watch the company try.