[madaxe_again]

a) isn't this from last year? IIRC they had two failed barge landings. This looks like the first one.

b) The headline makes this sound like a miserable failure - still beats "fell into the ocean never to be found again", as all other current first stages do.

[LoSboccacc]

new launch. they need the barge for heavier payloads, because it costs much more fuel to go all the way back, so they'll keep testing.

Musk posted an early statement blaming icing due to bad weather conditions. https://www.instagram.com/p/BAqirNbwEc0/

...and of course press is overly sensationalistic. nothing new there to report.

[neolefty]

In this case, they had enough fuel to return to the launch site but they used the barge because they couldn't get permission to return to Vandenburg. http://observer.com/2016/01/breaking-spacex-fails-a-third-ti...

[krisoft]

a) No this has just happened yesterday. tweet confirming: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/688837706005131264

b) true :)

[NikolaeVarius]

Its a failure because it didn't do what it is supposed to do.

Current first stages do exactly what they are supposed to do extremely well.

[mikeash]

It did exactly what it was supposed to do: deliver the second stage to the right place and velocity, and attempt a landing.

The landing failed, but it's part of a test program, failures are supposed to happen.

They got paid ~$90 million for this flight, and the customer is happy because they got exactly what they paid for.