---
title: "SpaceX Will Try to Land Rocket on Floating Ocean Platform Next Week"
description: "During the Dec. 16 launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which will send SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab, the California-based company will try to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a controlled landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean."
date: "2014-12-10"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Oana Stefanescu"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kidco"
url: "https://futurism.com/spacex-will-try-land-rocket-floating-ocean-platform-next-week"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "space"
---

# SpaceX Will Try to Land Rocket on Floating Ocean Platform Next Week

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/spacex-falcon9-rocket-fins.jpg>)

- The bold maneuver marks a big step forward in SpaceX's development of reusable-rocket technology
- The Falcon 9 photo revealed that the rocket is outfitted with "hypersonic grid fins" to increase stability during a return to Earth
- SpaceX has attempted soft ocean splashdowns of the Falcon 9 first stage on three recent launches — in September 2013, and in April and July of this year.