[jsumrall]

The rocket exploded because it fell over, not the other way around. Had one of the landing gears not malfunctioned, it would have been fine.

[tetraodonpuffer]

yeah, it feels the title this time should be rocket explodes AFTER landing, to give a better feeling of how close this was

[eric_h]

especially since it seems to have hit the bullseye on the center of the barge (maybe missed dead center by a few inches).

[JustSomeNobody]

You can tell it missed by a few inches from the video?

[lsaferite]

4 feet

[jsprogrammer]

It's not really a landing if the whole thing collapses and explodes right after touching the platform.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAqirNbwEc0/

[msandford]

If a pilot successfully takes an airplane out of the air and onto the ground such that all the weight of the airplane is on the wheels, and that weight transfer causes one of the tires to pop, and that causes the plane to skid, and then roll over, and then blow up, what kind of failure was that?

Was it the pilot failing to land the airplane properly?

Or was is the airplane failing to behave as expected after landing?

How exactly do you define the act of landing? Do you have to come to a full and complete stop? If that's true then few airplanes have ever "landed" until they've pulled up to the gate to disgorge their passengers.

[userbinator]

Reminds me of an old saying in aviation: "A good landing is one you can walk away from. A great landing is one where you can use the plane again."

[jsprogrammer]

I think it depends on whose perspective you are looking from.

If I assume I am SpaceX, I think I assume that my goal is to land my rockets such that they do not explode, so that I may reuse them. In this sense, I think I can say that the landing failed.