The SpaceX project has put a satellite which will monitor the climate into space but failed to land its reusable vehicle on an ocean platform for the first time.
All the signs appeared good after the rocket launched from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California on Sunday night.
But about ten minutes into the flight a webcast broadcasting the flight was taken down and replaced with a map showing the rocket's location.
It was the third time the rocket had failed to land back on earth successfully.
Scientists had been hoping the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket would be able to return to earth and land upright on a floating Pacific base.
The 300ft by 170ft landing pad was in choppy seas about 200 miles west of San Diego.
Yet, not long after the webcast went down, SpaceX tweeted: "First stage on target at droneship but looks like hard landing; broke landing leg."
SpaceX owner Elon Musk later said on Twitter: "Definitely harder to land on a ship. Similar to an aircraft carrier vs land: much smaller target area, that's also translating & rotating.
"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."
Mission control said that the second stage reignition had been successful and that the Jason-3 satellite had been deployed.
Earlier The 22-storey high rocket lifted off from the airbase near the US's western coast in thick fog, a NASA TV broadcast showed.
A successful ocean landing would have been a second major milestone for SpaceX in a month after it managed a successful ground landing in Florida, a key step in the company's quest to develop a cheap, reusable rocket.
The launch was successful in putting into orbit the US- and European-owned Jason-3 satellite, which aims to map what is happening to the extra heat being trapped inside the earth system by greenhouse gases.
Following Elon Musk's tweets, NASA said on Twitter: "Jason3 satellite ready for science operations! Solar arrays deployed & power positive."
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