A Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon takes off from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket unfortunately failed a second time to land on a platform which was floating in the ocean – a strategy aimed at re-using space rockets making the process more sustainable.

The rocket successfully made it to the International Space Station, taking supplies such as an espresso machine before returning to Earth with the aim of landing on the floating platform. The rocket is believed to have landed too hard which caused it to tip over off the barge into the ocean.

This was the second attempt of Space X to land on the barge with their previous effort failing disastrously with the rocket crashing into the platform and exploding.

Chief of SpaceX, Elon Musk wants to reuse the rockets instead of rather than throwing them away in to reduce costs and create a sustainable business. The company has said that they will make another attempt again in June when the next supply run for NASA is due. NASA congratulated SpaceX on Tuesday’s “spectacular” launch.

“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.”

Despite improvements since the previous launch Musk did predict a success rate of 50% as their primary goal was to launch into orbit and the landing a secondary priority.

The supply ship which the rocket launched holds more than 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms) of food and science equipment for the six space station astronauts. At the time of the launch, the space station was orbiting over Australia. The delivery is expecting to arrive Friday.

Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut on the station said in a tweet it’s “amazing to think that in 3 days (hash)Dragon will be knocking on our door.” Dragon is the name given to the free-flying spacecraft which is designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations. The espresso machine has been specially designed for Cristoforetti who has complained about being stuck with American instant coffee since she left Earth in November.

SpaceX, does hope to transform the space industry by eventually landing the first-stage booster on a platform floating a few hundred miles off Florida’s northeastern coast. SpaceX was the first private company to successfully launch and return a spacecraft from orbit on 8 December 2010 and has the target of lowering space transportation costs enabling an eventual colonization of Mars.