![]() Falcon 9 Flight 20, the first flight of the Full Thrust, which successfully deployed 11 Orbcomm satellites and achieved the first-ever vertical landing of a rocket's first stage | |
Function | Medium-lift launch vehicle |
---|---|
Manufacturer | SpaceX |
Country of origin | United States |
Cost per launch | |
Size | |
Diameter | 3.7 m (12 ft)[4] |
Mass | 549,000 kg (1,210,000 lb)[4] |
Stages | 2 |
Capacity | |
Payload to LEO | |
Orbital inclination | 28.5° |
Mass | |
Payload to GTO | |
Orbital inclination | 27° |
Mass | |
Payload to TMI | |
Mass | 4,020 kg (8,860 lb)[1] |
Associated rockets | |
Family | Falcon 9 |
Based on | Falcon 9 v1.1 |
Derivative work | Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy |
Comparable | |
Launch history | |
Status | Active |
Launch sites | |
Total launches | 36[7] |
Success(es) | 36 |
Notable outcome(s) | 1 (AMOS-6 pre-flight destruction) |
Landings | 22 / 24 attempts |
First flight | 22 December 2015Orbcomm-OG2-2) | (
Last flight | 29 June 2018CRS-15) | (
Type of passengers/cargo | |
First stage | |
Powered by | 9 × Merlin 1D |
Maximum thrust | |
Specific impulse |
|
Burn time | 162 seconds[4] |
Propellant | LOX / RP-1 |
Second stage | |
Powered by | 1 × Merlin 1D Vacuum |
Maximum thrust | 934 kN (210,000 lbf)[4] |
Specific impulse | 348 s (3.41 km/s)[4] |
Burn time | 397 seconds[4] |
Propellant | LOX / RP-1 |
Falcon 9 Full Thrust (also known as Falcon 9 v1.2) is a partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. It is the third major version of the Falcon 9 family, designed starting in 2014, with its first launch operations in December 2015. It was later refined into the Block 4 configuration. The rocket made 36 successful launches with no failures, although it did experience one pre-flight failure (AMOS-6),
On December 22, 2015, the Full Thrust version of the Falcon 9 family was the first launch vehicle on an orbital trajectory to successfully vertically land a first stage. The landing followed a technology development program conducted from 2013 to 2015. Some of the required technology advances, such as landing legs, were pioneered on the Falcon 9 v1.1 version, but that version never landed intact. Starting in 2017, previously flown first-stage boosters were reused to launch new payloads into orbit.[9][10] This quickly became routine, in 2018 and in 2019 more than half of all Falcon 9 flights reused a booster. In 2020 the fraction of reused boosters increased to 81%.
Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a substantial upgrade over the previous Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, which flew its last mission in January 2016. With uprated first- and second-stage engines, a larger second-stage propellant tank, and propellant densification, the vehicle can carry substantial payloads to geostationary orbit and perform a propulsive landing for recovery.[11]
The Full Thrust would go on to be developed into the Falcon 9 Block 5, SpaceX's highly successful medium-lift launch vehicle and the Falcon Heavy, a heavy-lift launch vehicle.
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