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![]() A Falcon 9 lifting off from Kennedy LC-39A, carrying Demo-2 | |
Function | Medium-lift launch vehicle |
---|---|
Manufacturer | SpaceX |
Country of origin | United States |
Cost per launch | US$69.75 million (2024)[1] |
Size | |
Height | |
Diameter | 3.7 m (12 ft)[2] |
Mass | |
Stages | 2 |
Capacity | |
Payload to LEO | |
Orbital inclination | 28.5° |
Mass |
|
Payload to GTO | |
Orbital inclination | 27.0° |
Mass |
|
Payload to Mars | |
Mass | FT: 4,020 kg (8,860 lb)[1] |
Associated rockets | |
Based on | Falcon 1 |
Derivative work | Falcon Heavy |
Launch history | |
Status |
|
Launch sites |
|
Total launches |
|
Success(es) |
|
Failure(s) | 2 (v1.1: CRS-7, FT Block 5: Starlink Group 9-3) |
Partial failure(s) | 1 (v1.0: CRS-1) |
Notable outcome(s) | 1 (FT: AMOS-6 pre-flight destruction) |
Landings | 325 / 334 attempts |
First flight |
|
Last flight | |
First stage | |
Powered by | |
Maximum thrust | |
Specific impulse | |
Burn time | |
Propellant | LOX / RP-1 |
Second stage | |
Powered by |
|
Maximum thrust | |
Specific impulse | |
Burn time | |
Propellant | LOX / RP-1 |
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable, human-rated, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on 4 June 2010. The first Falcon 9 commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 8 October 2012.[14] In 2020, it became the first commercial rocket to launch humans to orbit.[15] In 2022, it became the U.S. rocket with the most launches in history. The Falcon 9 has an exceptional safety record,[16] with 362 successful launches, two in-flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction.
The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payload to a pre-determined speed and altitude, after which the second stage accelerates the payload to its target orbit. The booster is capable of landing vertically to facilitate reuse. This feat was first achieved on flight 20 in December 2015. As of 16 August 2024, SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon 9 boosters 325 times.[A] Individual boosters have flown as many as 22 flights.[17] Both stages are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines,[B] using cryogenic liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) as propellants.[18][19]
The heaviest payloads flown to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) were Intelsat 35e carrying 6,761 kg (14,905 lb), and Telstar 19V with 7,075 kg (15,598 lb). The former was launched into an advantageous super-synchronous transfer orbit,[20] while the latter went into a lower-energy GTO, with an apogee well below the geostationary altitude.[21] On 24 January 2021, Falcon 9 set a record for the most satellites launched by a single rocket, carrying 143 into orbit.[22]
Falcon 9 is human-rated for transporting NASA astronauts to the ISS, certified for the National Security Space Launch program[23] and the NASA Launch Services Program lists it as a "Category 3" (Low Risk) launch vehicle allowing it to launch the agency's most expensive, important, and complex missions.[24]
Several versions of Falcon 9 have been built and flown: v1.0 flew from 2010 to 2013, v1.1 flew from 2013 to 2016, while v1.2 Full Thrust first launched in 2015, encompassing the Block 5 variant, which has been in operation since May 2018.
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The launch also marked the first flight of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust, internally known only as the "Upgraded Falcon 9"
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