I think he came incredibly close to pulling it off, and I would bet that he will do it in the next couple of tries.
The transient response of the rocket guidance system looked very good to me. Remarkably good.
The software that controls that rocket has to bring the solutions of five or six differential equations all to zero at exactly the same instant in time. Being off by even a tiny fraction on any one of them results in failure. Even the slightest hang-up in any mechanical part will probably be unrecoverable.
It is similar to making a good, no-hover landing in a helicopter. You have to zero forward velocity, vertical rate of descent and altitude to coincide with a fixed point on the ground. When you manage to do it smoothly, it is quite satisfying.
Especially in a very large helo with stabilization turned off...
:-)
“The software that controls that rocket has to bring the solutions of five or six differential equations all to zero at exactly the same instant in time. “
Like Neil Armstrong did when he landed Apollo 11 with a watch’s worth of computer helping him?
Willing to give them more time but gotta admit I’m not impressed by Falcon.