npr.org -

SpaceX has successfully launched another resupply mission to the International Space Station months after a competitor in the private space-launch business suffered a catastrophic lift off that resulted in the unmanned rocket's destruction.

The Falcon 9 lifted off from a pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:47 a.m. ET carrying about 5,000 pounds of food and gear to the ISS.

But a secondary goal of the flight — a first-ever attempt to land a spent first-stage booster on a seaborne barge for recovery and reuse — fell just short of A-OK, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The booster stage came down too hard and broke apart, he says.

photo CC by Steve Jurvetson