SpaceX tried parachute recovery of first stages with earlier launches. Apparently it trashed the stage pretty good every time, so that they consider it a failed

SpaceX tried parachute recovery of first stages with earlier launches. Apparently it trashed the stage pretty good every time, so that they consider it a failed technique. (They've never released photos of a recovered part, so far as I know, which I think is evidence of embarrassment.) With their Grasshopper work, I expect they'll try to save the mass and effort involved with parachutes and just do propulsive recovery. (Parachutes are surprisingly hard, and adding a second system of any sort is probably more than twice the work--and raises the probability of failure.)