As the old adage goes, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. 

SpaceX made another attempt at catching a rocket's fairing (a protective nose cone), using a boat dubbed Mr. Steven. 

Poor Mr. Steven. Maybe he's got butter fingers, judging by a video SpaceX posted Tuesday. The fairing slipped off the boat's net. 

In a tweet, SpaceX said this was "one of Mr. Steven's final West Coast fairing recovery tests before shipping out for the East Coast."

This isn't the first time the fairing has literally missed the boat. The last game of catch was earlier in January. 

SpaceX wants to nab rocket fairings so it can reuse them. Founder Elon Musk has long been working on ways to reuse rockets as a means of making launches cheaper and faster. In December, SpaceX used one of its single boosters for a third time.

First published Jan. 30, 9:45 a.m. PT
Update, Jan. 31 at 7:11 a.m.: Includes additional context.