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Elon Musk has released dramatic footage of the moment a SpaceX rocket crashed into a barge.

The company's founder unveiled the images of the Falcon 9 landing after persuasion on Twitter by the game pioneer behind Doom, John Carmack.

The images show the rocket approaching the barge following its launch on Saturday. After it fails to reduce its speed, the rocket is seen crashing at an angle and exploding.

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Elon Musk has released footage of the moment a SpaceX rocket crashed into a barge. The company's founder unveiled the images after persuasion on Twitter by the game pioneer behind Doom, John Carmack

Billionaire Musk described the event simply as a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly'.

SpaceX has been developing technology to land the largest stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth after it takes its supplies to the ISS.

Last Saturday's mission was the group's first attempt to put the stage on an autonomous landing platform at sea, which was held in position using deep-sea oil rigs.

While the launch went well, a failure in its hydraulic control fins brought the rocket down at the wrong angle.

Earlier today Musk tweeted: 'Next rocket landing on drone ship in two to three weeks away more hydraulic fluid. At least it should explode for a different reason.'

SpaceX crash lands rocket in spectacular fashion

Saturday's mission was the group's first to put the stage on an autonomous landing platform at sea, which was held in position using deep-sea oil rigs. Pictured is an image of the fuel and oxygen combining in an explosion

Musk described the event simply as a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly'. SpaceX has been developing technology to land the largest stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth after it takes its supplies to the ISS

The modified barge - nearly the size of a football field - was positioned a couple hundred miles off Florida's northeastern coast.

The uncrewed platform was spared serious damage from the impact, although some equipment on deck will need to be replaced, according to Musk

Initially, Musk had insisted that the company didn't get good video of the impact, and that the team would have to piece together information from 'telemetry and … actual pieces'.

In the weeks preceding the landing test, Musk had estimated there was a 50-50 chance, at best, that the Falcon's first-stage booster would land vertically on the platform.

A pair of attempts last year to bring boosters down vertically on the open ocean went well, but company officials conceded before Saturday's try that a platform touchdown was considerably more challenging.

Once separated from the upper stage of the rocket Saturday, the main booster re-ignited as planned for the fly back, according to SpaceX. 

Initially, Musk had insisted that the company didn't get good video of the impact, and that the team would have to piece together information from 'telemetry and … actual pieces'

In the weeks preceding the landing test, Musk (left) had estimated there was a 50-50 chance, at best, that the Falcon's first-stage booster would land vertically on the platform. He issued the pictured after prompts from gaming pioneerjohn Carmack (right)

SpaceX successfully launched a supply rocket to the International Space Station on Saturday, the sixth mission by the aerospace contractor to the station since 2012. However the landing wasn't as smooth

Automatic engine firings maneuvered the booster down toward the autonomous, modified barge.

The Air Force maintained the ability, as always, to destroy the booster if it strayed off course.

SpaceX's primary mission was delivering more than 5,000 pounds of station supplies ordered up by Nasa, including hasty replacements for experiments and equipment lost in the destruction of another company's cargo ships.

The company, headquartered in Hawthorne, California, also has been contracted by Nasa to develop beefed-up Dragons for astronaut rides to the space station, beginning as early as 2017.

Boeing also is hard at work on a manned capsule. In the meantime, Nasa is paying tens of millions of dollars to Russia for each U.S. astronaut launched aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. 

A barge floating off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, was supposed to recover the leftover booster, but components came down too hard and broke apart, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk

Onlookers and photographers watched the trajectory of the Falcon 9 rocket, which lit up the sky over Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday