The next phase in SpaceX's space exploration is landing a rocket on a platform the size of a football field. It is not as easy as it sounds. Some experts are calling it one of the company's biggest challenges yet. And if they fail it could still be a triumph.

SpaceX, the space exploration, technology and outer space cargo shipping company, unveiled plans last week to land their Falcon 9 Rocket on a platform the size of a football field. SpaceX's rocket feat has two purposes: if successful it could reduce costs in spaceflight; but if they fail it could also be a win in that they will be the first of its kind to make an attempt like that.

SpaceX's launch experiment has been described as "trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a windstorm." The statement does not inspire confidence, and the chances of them actually landing the rocket safely -- coming from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth on the ocean platform -- is "50 percent at best." What it means is that SpaceX is well aware of the forces against them.

The experiment is scheduled to take place on Jan. 6, 2015. The space exploration company will send a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, along with its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule. The destination is to the ISS on a resupply mission, NBC News reported.

After a stage separation at an altitude of approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers), the Falcon's first stage is expected to relight its rocket engines. Then it is expected to go through a set of difficult and complex series of maneuvers, so that it could land on a 300-foot-long (90-meter-long) "autonomous spaceport drone ship" in the Atlantic Ocean, NBC News reported.  

It sounds complicated, right. SpaceX is well aware, the company says via their website "However, this test represents the first in a series of similar tests that will ultimately deliver a fully reusable Falcon 9 first stage." Yes, they will do it more than once.

The Falcon rocket will be carrying 3,700 pounds of cargo from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and then into space. The Falcon will be carrying a payload of food, science experiments and other supplies to the ISS, Business Insider reported. After that is completed, it will empty its fuel and then detach from the Dragon spacecraft. One of its feats is to fall back to Earth on the ocean platform by landing upright.

SpaceX says via a statement that they have done landing attempts before, but this type of "landing has an accuracy within 10km. For this attempt, we're targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters," Business Insider reported.

SpaceX is making history once again. This new venture is in line with decades of launches that have dropped away their rocket stages and have left them behind to burn up, while the rest of the vehicle has risen into orbit. Those orbits worked for Saturn 5 in the days of Apollo, and it still works today, NBC News reported. When the space shuttle had ejected its external fuel tank for destruction and its solid rocket boosters had fallen into the sea, it was recovered for refurbishment.

No rocket stage has ever flown itself back to a controlled landing after sending a payload to orbit. SpaceX is attempting to do this with a series of three rocket engine burns which will be helped along with the use of hypersonic control fins, NBC News reported.

If successful in 2015, SpaceX's experiment could lower the cost of spaceflight down considerably. Today's figures for sending payloads to low Earth orbit is $10,000.00 a pound ($20,000.00 a kilogram). SpaceX's CEO and founder Elon Musk says that making rockets that are fully recoverable and reusable could reduce the cost by 99 percent, NBC News reported. Cost reduction is Musk's goal to reducing the cost of spaceflight from Earth to Mars and other planets.

This is a big mission for SpaceX, but they have successfully completed other landings earlier on in the year. They did, however, lose a 14-story tall rocket that was irreversibly damaged after it had dropped sideways in the high seas, Business Insider reported.

SpaceX intends to use other devices to help Falcon 9 from missing its mark such as GPS tracking, newly attached hypersonic "X wings" and other technology. These specially designed X wings are supposed to deploy on reentry and help the rocket to steer itself onto the platform, the Business Insider reported.