WATCH: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket attempts to land, tips over and explodes

Elon Musk, CEO and chief technology of aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, posted a video to Instagram Sunday night of a failed rocket landing attempt that happened earlier in the day.

Musk said the Falcon 9 rocket successfully completed its mission and deployed the Jason-3 satellite to low-Earth orbit. However, it failed to latch one of its four legs while landing on an autonomous \"drone ship\" in the Pacific Ocean, apparently due to ice build up.

The attempt marked the third time SpaceX tried -- and failed -- to land a rocket on a floating ship.

In January 2015, SpaceX attempted to land the Falcon 9 on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. It crashed due to a lack of hyraulic fluid, Musk said.

In April 2015, the Falcon 9 crashed in another attemped drone ship landing due to \"slower than expected throttle valve response,\" according to Musk.

Definitely harder to land on a ship. Similar to an aircraft carrier vs land: much smaller target area, that's also translating & rotating. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016

However, that was not what prevented it being good. Touchdown speed was ok, but a leg lockout didn't latch, so it tipped over after landing. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016

Well, at least the pieces were bigger this time! Won't be last RUD, but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing. pic.twitter.com/w007TccANJ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2016

 

Falcon lands on droneship, but the lockout collet doesn't latch on one the four legs, causing it to tip over post landing. Root cause may have been ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff.

A video posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) onJan 17, 2016 at 7:07pm PST