A camera on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean captured this remarkably successful failure, as the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of Hawthorne, Calif., or SpaceX, attempted to land the first stage of one of its Falcon 9 rockets.

The rocket had just successfully lofted cargo to the International Space Station. Typically, rockets are tossed away as trash in the ocean.

Had the effort succeeded, it might have heralded an era of reusable rockets and much cheaper launchings. Still, just hitting a 170-foot-by-300 foot target in the middle of the ocean was significant progress.