Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is developing a rocket that can be recovered after its flight and used again for other missions.

The space flight will not just be used for take-offs but also landings. Rocket boosters are used only for few minutes in the fiery and propel the rest of the stages into the space before leaving the rocket and falling into the sea. Musk aims at recovering this rocket after use in order to avoid wasting an expensive part of the rocket.

SpaceX has now designed a rocket that will return to Earth and land softly on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Musk has said that the odds are perhaps 50 per cent at best. SpaceX is aiming to land the rocket safely on the barge. Musk has been working on a way to land and reuse rockets for several years. The company has already completed soft landings in the ocean.

Musk said during a forum at MIT in October, "Unfortunately, it sort of sat there for several seconds then tipped over and exploded. It's as tall as a 14-storey building. When a 14-storey building falls over, it's quite a bellyflop."

SpaceX is aiming to land the rocket on a barge 91.4 metres long by 51.8 metres wide during its next trip to resupply the International Space Station on 6 January, 2015.