El Segundo rocket developer Space Exploration Technologies scored a partial success with the launch of its Falcon 1 on Tuesday, the Daily Breeze reports.
The rocket began to oscillate and ceased sending signals to Earth about five minutes after liftoff from the Omelek Island launch pad on the Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The loss of signal contact came during the rocket’s second stage.
Elon Musk, founder of the company that’s also known as SpaceX, said the launch demonstrated the rocket’s ability to reach space and “retired probably about 90 percent of the risk associated with the rocket.”