'Hard landing' for SpaceX rocket on floating barge dims successful liftoff

• Falcon 9 returned to Earth after 'an excellent start with a great launch'
• SpaceX has attempted to land the 157ft-tall rocket before but failed

SpaceX failed to land its reusable rocket on a robotic barge floating in the Pacific on Sunday, a little less than a month after Elon Musk's private spaceflight company managed a historic landing on solid ground.

The spaceflight company launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, near Los Angeles, at 10.42am. It delivered a Jason-3 satellite into orbit on behalf of Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)