SpaceX rocket blows apart as it lands on barge in the Atlantic

EXHILARATING footage shows the moment a space rocket owned by US billionaire Elon Musk smashed to pieces as it crash landed on a barge at sea.

Supplied Editorial 17012015crash

DRAMATIC footage shows the moment a space rocket crash landed on a purpose-built landing platform out at sea.

The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, owned by US billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial space company, SpaceX, was taking part in a test flight.

SpaceX have begun sending rockets carrying supplies to the International Space Station and have created the barge to provide a landing platform once the rocket makes it back to Earth.

Billionaire ... Musk jokingly referred to last weekend’s crash as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”. Picture: Paul Sancya/AP

Musk, who originally claimed there was no footage of the crash, released the video after pressure from Twitter users. He jokingly referred to last weekend’s crash as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”.

The barge was situated a few hundred miles northeast of Florida and was held in place using deep sea oil rigs.

Landing vessels accurately back on Earth after space missions is notoriously difficult, which is why most returning space rockets land at sea using parachutes.

In the weeks before the landing test Musk put the chances of a successful landing at 50/50.

While the rocket did hit the barge it came down at an angle rather than vertically as hoped.

In a series of tweets Musk blamed the crash on the rocket’s grid fins which he said had run out of hydraulic fluid and thus were unable to realign the rocket as it came into land.

In a tweet on Saturday Musk wrote: “Next rocket landing on drone ship in two to three weeks away more hydraulic fluid. At least it should explode for a different reason.”