After four years without an incident, SpaceX engineers had good reason to be confident about a routine launch this week. But that confidence was literally blown out of the water this morning after a Falcon 9 rocket booster dramatically exploded shortly after landing. Booster 1062 had just broken the record for the most consecutive launches without failure when it failed to touch down a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. A shocking video captured the moment the booster suddenly tipped over and was engulfed in a ball of purple flames. This marks the first time since 2021 that a SpaceX booster stage has failed to land after taking its payload into orbit.

BBC Verify research suggests Ukraine has carried out at least 10 attacks with drone ships - targeting military ships, Russia's naval base in Sevastopol, and Novorossiysk harbour. This is based on announcements by Russian and Ukrainian authorities, and local media reports.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Facing a growing threat from China, the Navy envisions drone ships keeping an electronic eye on enemy forces across the vast Pacific Ocean, extending the reach of firepower, and keeping sailors out of harm's way. The Navy is speeding development of those robotic ships as an affordable way to keep pace with China's growing fleet while vowing not to repeat costly shipbuilding blunders from recent years. The four largest drone ships are being used together this summer during a multination naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean.

Chinese academics have christened an ocean research vessel that has a twist: it will sail the seas with a complement of aerial and ocean-going drones and no human crew. The Zhu Hai Yun, or Zhuhai Cloud, launched in Guangzhou after a year of construction. The 290-foot-long mothership can hit a top speed of 18 knots (about 20 miles per hour) and will carry 50 flying, surface, and submersible drones that launch and self-recover autonomously. According to this blurb from the shipbuilder behind its construction, the Cloud will also be equipped with a variety of additional observational instruments "which can be deployed in batches in the target sea area, and carry out task-oriented adaptive networking to achieve three-dimensional view of specific targets." Most of the ship is an open deck where flying drones can land and be stored.

After a nine minute trip into orbit and a few hundred mile journey to the coast of Florida, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has finally returned home. The rocket pulled into Port Canaveral aboard the firm's drone ship'Of Course I Still Love You' after launching NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley toward the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Crew Dragon capsule May 30. Falcon 9 pulled into the port as a hero, following the launch on Saturday that brought spaceflight back to US soil. NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX made history with their'Launch America' mission on May 30 that launched Behnken and Hurley from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to the International Space Station - the first time in nine years an American crew has launched from US soil. Falcon 9 pulled into Port Canaveral aboard the firm's drone ship'Of Course I Still Love You' after launching NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley toward the International Space Station aboard a Crew Dragon capsule May 30 The launch was initially set to take place May 27 but was scrubbed with 16 minutes and 54 seconds left on the countdown clock due to poor weather.

SpaceX is the undisputed rock star of the Space Coast's commercial launch boom. Their social media plays a role. Video posted Feb. 19, 2017 Rachael L Thomas, FLORIDA TODAY Space exploration is serious business. Missions cost tens of millions of dollars and frequently put human lives on the line. That's probably why rockets and spacecraft tend to have serious-sounding names.

SpaceX says it lost the Falcon Heavy's center core after'rough sea conditions' caused it to topple over as it was being transported back to the Florida coast. Elon Musk's rocket company managed to make history on Thursday when it landed three boosters back on Earth for the first time, following the Falcon Heavy megarocket's successful second launch into space. But as ocean swells continued to rise, wave heights caused the center core to fall off of the company's drone ship, dubbed'Of Course I Still Love You,' which is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the Verge. SpaceX says it lost the Falcon Heavy's center core (pictured) after'rough sea conditions' caused it to topple over as it was being transported back to the Florida coast'Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX's recovery team was unable to secure the center booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral,' SpaceX said in a statement. 'As conditions worsened with eight to ten foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright.

This weekend, SpaceX began what is slated to be its busiest week ever by successfully launching its largest payload to date: a communications satellite dubbed TelStar 19V. Perched atop the company's Cape Canaveral launch pad, a shiny new Falcon 9 rocket roared to life at 1:50 am Eastern on Sunday morning, lighting up the predawn sky. It was the 13th launch so far this year for SpaceX--and, notably, the first of three Falcon 9 Block 5 booster launches scheduled for the next 12 days. SpaceX equipped the Block 5 booster--known internally as B1047--with several upgrades designed to make it more capable than its predecessor, the Block 4. They include improved engines, a more durable interstage, titanium grid fins, and a new thermal protection system. Together they help the rocket pack a bigger punch, more safely, more often: On Sunday, the Block 5 not only delivered its hefty payload to orbit, it also landed aboard an autonomous drone ship waiting out in the Atlantic.

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino reacts to the historic test flight. SpaceX is also building a new drone ship for rocket landings at sea, he added. When SpaceX's Falcon Heavy blasted off last Tuesday (Feb. The Falcon Heavy's two side boosters landed successfully (and simultaneously) on twin pads at the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but the center core crashed and burned. That core booster, which was expected to land offshore on SpaceX's drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You," crashed when two of three engines did not fire during a final landing burn, Musk told reporters after the launch.

SpaceX's three-core Falcon Heavy rocket fired up the afternoon sky over Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX's newest rocket, the Falcon Heavy, lifted off Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, on its first demonstration flight from Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A. CAPE CANAVERAL -- The only blemish in what otherwise appeared to be a flawless debut by SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday was the demise of the first stage's center booster. After the rocket's 3:45 p.m. ET launch from Kennedy Space Center, two side boosters returned safely to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for nearly simultaneous, side-by-side landings that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described as "epic" and one of the most exciting things he's ever seen. But the middle booster missed the "drone ship" that was its landing target and hit the Atlantic Ocean at about 300 mph.