SpaceX failed again in its latest attempt to have a rocket booster return to Earth and safely land on barge in the middle of the ocean.

The Associated Press reports that the first-stage booster rocket landed too hard on the barge and toppled over. SpaceX wants to reuse the rockets rather than discard them in the ocean to reduce launch costs. The company's next attempt will be in June when it makes another supply run for NASA.

Like Us on Facebook

"It's not quite clear what happened," said Hans Koenigsmann, a SpaceX vice president. "But certainly it needs more work in the next couple missions."

The company had made improvements to the booster and landing platform, however, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk still said he expected there was less than a 50 percent chance the landing would be a success. The company has repeatedly insisted that the landing was secondary to the Dragon getting its supplies to the space station.

The most recent shipment consisted of groceries sent to the International Space Station on Tuesday, including the first microgravity espresso maker.

The AP reports that unprecedented images were sent down from orbit showing the protective covering popping off the Dragon and the two solar wings unfolding. The supply ship holds more than 4,000 pounds of food, science experiments and equipment for the six space station astronauts.

SpaceX is looking to transform the rocket business by finding a way to land the first-stage booster on a platform floating a few hundred miles off Florida's northeastern coast, near Jacksonville. The eventual landing site will be located at a former missile-launching site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Until a crew arrives at the scene by boat, SpaceX won't know what can be recovered from the most recent landing, Koenigsmann said.

The company also failed in its attempts in February and January. The steering fins ran out of hydraulic fluid on the January try, and the booster crashed into the platform and blew up. The second attempt was abandoned due to rough seas. This was the seventh supply run by the California-based company for NASA.

TagsSpaceX Fails in Latest Attempt to Land Rocket on Barge, NASA, SpaceX, Elon Musk, Hans Koenigsmann, Dragon, Falcon 9