Falcon 9 is a partially reusable,

two-stage-to-orbit A two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) or two-stage rocket is a launch vehicle in which two distinct multistage rocket, stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. It is intermediate between a three-stage-to-orbit launcher a ...

, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, and the first commercial resupply mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) launched on October 8, 2012. In 2020, it became the first commercial rocket to launch humans to orbit. The Falcon 9 has been noted for its reliability and high launch cadence, with successful launches, two in-flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction. It is the most-launched American orbital rocket in history. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payload to a predetermined 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 , SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon 9 boosters times. Individual boosters have flown as many as flights. Both stages are powered by

SpaceX Merlin Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX. They are currently a part of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, and were formerly used on the Falcon 1. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a ga ...

engines, using cryogenic

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...

and rocket-grade

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

(

RP-1 RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) and similar fuels like RG-1 and T-1 are highly refined kerosene formulations used as rocket fuel. Liquid-fueled rockets that use RP-1 as fuel are known as kerolox rockets. In their engines, RP- ...

) as propellants. The heaviest payloads flown to

geostationary transfer orbit In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...

(GTO) were Intelsat 35e carrying , and Telstar 19V with . The former was launched into an advantageous super-synchronous transfer orbit, while the latter went into a lower-energy GTO, with an apogee well below the geostationary altitude. On January 24, 2021, Falcon 9 set a record for the most satellites launched by a single rocket, carrying 143 into orbit. Falcon 9 is

human-rated Human-rating certification, also known as man-rating or crew-rating, is the certification of a spacecraft or launch vehicle as capable of safely transporting humans. There is no one particular standard for human-rating a spacecraft or launch veh ...

for transporting NASA astronauts to the ISS, certified for the National Security Space Launch program 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. 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.

Development history

Conception and funding

In October 2005, SpaceX announced plans to launch Falcon 9 in the first half of 2007. The initial launch would not occur until 2010. SpaceX spent its own capital to develop and fly its previous launcher, Falcon 1, with no pre-arranged sales of launch services. SpaceX developed Falcon 9 with private capital as well, but did have pre-arranged commitments by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

to purchase several operational flights once specific capabilities were demonstrated. Milestone-specific payments were provided under the

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to spur the development of Private spaceflight, private spacecraft and launch vehicles for deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). Launched in 2006, COTS successful ...

(COTS) program in 2006. The NASA contract was structured as a Space Act Agreement (SAA) "to develop and demonstrate commercial orbital transportation service", including the purchase of three demonstration flights. The overall contract award was US$278 million to provide three demonstration launches of Falcon 9 with the

SpaceX Dragon Dragon is a family of spacecraft developed and produced by American private space transportation company SpaceX. The first variant, later named SpaceX Dragon 1, Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS) between ...

cargo spacecraft. Additional milestones were added later, raising the total contract value to US$396 million. In 2008, SpaceX won a

Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first phase of CRS contracts (CRS-1) were sign ...

(CRS) contract in

(COTS) program to deliver cargo to ISS using Falcon 9/Dragon. Funds would be disbursed only after the demonstration missions were successfully and thoroughly completed. The contract totaled US$1.6 billion for a minimum of 12 missions to ferry supplies to and from the ISS. In 2011, SpaceX estimated that Falcon 9 v1.0 development costs were approximately US$300 million. NASA estimated development costs of US$3.6 billion had a traditional

cost-plus contract A cost-plus contract, also termed a cost plus contract, is a contract such that a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses, ''plus'' an additional payment to allow for risk and incentive sharing. A 2011 NASA report "estimated that it would have cost the agency about US$4 billion to develop a rocket like the Falcon 9 booster based upon NASA's traditional contracting processes" while "a more commercial development" approach might have allowed the agency to pay only US$1.7 billion". In 2014, SpaceX released combined development costs for Falcon 9 and Dragon. NASA provided US$396 million, while SpaceX provided over US$450 million. Congressional testimony by SpaceX in 2017 suggested that the unusual NASA process of "setting only a high-level requirement for cargo transport to the space station hileleaving the details to industry" had allowed SpaceX to complete the task at a substantially lower cost. "According to NASA's own independently verified numbers, SpaceX's development costs of both the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets were estimated at approximately $390 million in total."

Development

SpaceX originally intended to follow its Falcon 1 launch vehicle with an intermediate capacity vehicle, Falcon 5. The Falcon line of vehicles are named after the '' Millennium Falcon'', a fictional starship from the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' film series. In 2005, SpaceX announced that it was instead proceeding with Falcon 9, a "fully reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle", and had already secured a government customer. Falcon 9 was described as capable of launching approximately to low Earth orbit and was projected to be priced at US$27 million per flight with a

payload fairing A payload fairing or nose fairing is a nose cone used to protect a launch vehicle, spacecraft payload (air and space craft), payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additiona ...

and US$35 million with a fairing. SpaceX also announced a heavy version of Falcon 9 with a payload capacity of approximately . Falcon 9 was intended to support LEO and GTO missions, as well as crew and cargo missions to the ISS.

Testing

The original NASA COTS contract called for the first demonstration flight in September 2008, and the completion of all three demonstration missions by September 2009. In February 2008, the date slipped into the first quarter of 2009. According to Musk, complexity and

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

regulatory requirements contributed to the delay. The first multi-engine test (two engines firing simultaneously, connected to the first stage) was completed in January 2008. Successive tests led to a 178-second (mission length), nine engine test-fire in November 2008. In October 2009, the first flight-ready all-engine test fire was at its test facility in McGregor, Texas. In November, SpaceX conducted the initial second stage test firing, lasting forty seconds. In January 2010, a 329-second (mission length) orbit-insertion firing of the second stage was conducted at McGregor. The elements of the stack arrived at the launch site for integration at the beginning of February 2010. The flight stack went vertical at Space Launch Complex 40,

, and in March, SpaceX performed a static fire test, where the first stage was fired without launch. The test was aborted at T−2 due to a failure in the high-pressure helium pump. All systems up to the abort performed as expected, and no additional issues needed addressing. A subsequent test on March 13 fired the first-stage engines for 3.5 seconds.

Production

In December 2010, the SpaceX production line manufactured a Falcon 9 (and Dragon spacecraft) every three months. By September 2013, SpaceX's total manufacturing space had increased to nearly , in order to support a production capacity of 40 rocket cores annually. The factory was producing one Falcon 9 per month . By February 2016 the production rate for Falcon 9 cores had increased to 18 per year, and the number of first stage cores that could be assembled at one time reached six. Since 2018, SpaceX has routinely reused first stages, reducing the demand for new cores. In 2023, SpaceX performed 91 launches of Falcon 9 with only 4 using new boosters and successfully recovered the booster on all flights. The Hawthorne factory continues to produce one (expendable) second stage for each launch.

Launch history

Notable flights and payloads

* Flight 1, Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit — June 4, 2010, first flight of Falcon 9 and first test of

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, * Flight 3, Dragon C2+ — first cargo delivery to the

, * Flight 4, CRS-1 — first operational cargo mission to the ISS, and the first demonstration of the rocket's engine-out capability due to the failure of a first-stage

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

engine, * Flight 6,

CASSIOPE ''Cassiope'' is a genus of 18 small shrubby species in the family Ericaceae. It is the sole genus in the subfamily Cassiopoideae. They are native to the Arctic and north temperate montane regions. The genus is named after Cassiopeia of Greek ...

— first v1.1 rocket, first launch from

Vandenberg AFB Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the ...

, first attempt at propulsive return of the first stage, * Flight 7, SES-8 — first launch to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), first non-governmental payload, * Flight 9, CRS-3 — added landing legs, first fully controlled descent and vertical ocean touchdown, * Flight 15, Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) — first mission injecting spacecraft into Sun–Earth L₁ point, * Flight 19, CRS-7 — total loss of mission due to structural failure and helium overpressure in the second stage, * Flight 20, Orbcomm OG-2 — first vertical landing of an orbital-class rocket booster, * Flight 23, CRS-8 — first vertical landing achieved on an

autonomous spaceport drone ship An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is a modified ocean-going barge developed by SpaceX and equipped with propulsion systems to maintain precise position and a large floating landing platform, landing platform. They were developed to re ...

at sea, * AMOS-6 — total vehicle and payload loss prior to static fire test (would have been Flight 29), * Flight 30, CRS-10 — first launch from LC-39A at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, * Flight 32, SES-10 — first reflight of a previously flown orbital class booster ( B1021, previously used for

SpaceX CRS-8 Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American space technology company headquartered at the Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the company has made numerous a ...

), first recovery of a fairing, * Flight 41, X-37B OTV-5 — first launch of a

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can flight, fly and gliding flight, glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbit ...

, * Flight 54 Bangladesh Satellite-1 — first flight of the Block 5 version, * Flight 58 Telstar 19V — heaviest communications satellite delivered to GEO, at the time, * Flight 69 Crew Dragon Demo-1 — first launch of the

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consi ...

(did not carry astronauts), * Flight 72, RADARSAT Constellation — most valuable commercial payload put into orbit, * Flight 81 —

Starlink Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to around 130 countries ...

launch, was a successful flight, but had the first recovery failure of a previously flown and recovered booster, * Flight 83 — successful

launch, saw the first failure of a Merlin 1D first-stage engine during ascent, and the second ascent engine failure on the rocket following CRS-1 on flight 4, * Flight 85, Crew Dragon Demo-2 — first crewed launch of the Crew Dragon, carrying two astronauts, * Flight 98, Crew-1 — first crewed operational launch of the Crew Dragon, holding the record for the longest spaceflight by a US crew vehicle, * Flight 101, CRS-21 — first launch of the Cargo Dragon 2, an uncrewed variant of the Crew Dragon, * Flight 106, Transporter-1 — first dedicated smallsat rideshare launch arranged by SpaceX, set the record of the most satellites launched on a single launch with 143 satellites, surpassing the previous record of 108 satellites held by the November 17, 2018, launch of an

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by ...

, * Flight 108 — routine

launch which experienced early shut-down of a first-stage Merlin 1D engine during ascent due to damage, but still delivered the payload to the target orbit, * Flight 126,

Inspiration4 Inspiration4 (stylized as Inspirati④n) was a 2021 human spaceflight operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. The mission launched the Crew Dragon Crew Dragon Resilience, ''Resilience'' on 16 September 2021 at 00:02: ...

— first orbital spaceflight of an all-private crew, * Flight 129, DART — first planetary defense mission against

near-Earth objects A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit aro ...

, * Flight 134, CRS-24 — 100th successful vertical landing of an orbital-class rocket, on the sixth anniversary of the first landing in 2015, * Flight 232 — 200th overall successful booster landing, * Flight 236 — first launch with a fairing half flying for the tenth time, * Flight 300 — 200th consecutive successful vertical landing for the orbital class Falcon booster, * Flight 323 — B1062 becomes the first Falcon 9 booster to fly and land 20 times; this was preceded by certification of boosters to fly that often, double the initial goal, * Flight 328 — 300th consecutive successful Falcon 9 mission. * Flight 354 — Starlink Group 9–3 — Second stage failed to relight, Starlink satellites deployed into lower orbit than planned. This resulted in loss of all 20 Starlink satellites.

Notable payloads

* AMOS-17 * Bangabandhu Satellite-1 * Beresheet lunar lander *

Boeing X-37 The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, re-enters Earth's atmosphere, and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of th ...

* Crew and Cargo Dragon *

Double Asteroid Redirection Test The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was a NASA space mission aimed at testing a method of planetary defense against near-Earth objects (NEOs). It was designed to assess how much a spacecraft impact deflects an asteroid through its trans ...

(DART) * EchoStar 23 *

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

* GPS IIIA launches * Iridium NEXT constellation * Launches for the US National Reconnaissance Office, NROL * Maxar Worldview Legion * Odysseus IM-1 * Orbcomm OG2 * RADARSAT Constellation * SES-10 *

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

launches * SpaceX Starlink *

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA's Explorer program, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission. It was launched on ...

(TESS) * Zuma

Design

F9 is a two-stage, LOX/

-powered launch vehicle.

Specifications

;First stage ;Second stage

Engine

Both stages are equipped with Merlin 1D rocket engines. Every Merlin engine produces of thrust. They use a

pyrophoric A substance is pyrophoric (from , , 'fire-bearing') if it ignites spontaneously in air at or below (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids). Examples are organolithium compounds and triethylb ...

mixture of triethylaluminum- triethylborane (TEA-TEB) as an engine igniter. The booster stage has 9 engines, arranged in a configuration that SpaceX calls Octaweb. The second stage of the Falcon 9 has 1 short or regular nozzle, Merlin 1D Vacuum engine version. Falcon 9 is capable of losing up to 2 engines and still complete the mission by burning the remaining engines longer. Each Merlin rocket engine is controlled by three

voting Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...

computers, each having 2 CPUs which constantly check the other 2 in the trio. The Merlin 1D engines can vector thrust to adjust trajectory.

Tanks

The propellant tank walls and domes are made from an aluminum–lithium alloy. SpaceX uses an all friction-stir welded tank, for its strength and reliability. The second stage tank is a shorter version of the first stage tank. It uses most of the same tooling, material, and manufacturing techniques. The F9 interstage, which connects the upper and lower stages, is a carbon-fibre aluminium-core composite structure that holds reusable separation

collet A collet is a segmented sleeve, band or ''collar''. One of the two radial surfaces of a collet is usually tapered (i.e a truncated cone) and the other is cylindrical. The term ''collet'' commonly refers to a type of chuck that uses collets ...

s and a pneumatic pusher system. The original stage separation system had twelve attachment points, reduced to three for v1.1.

Fairing

Falcon 9 uses a

(nose cone) to protect (non-Dragon) satellites during launch. The fairing is long, in diameter, weighs approximately 1900 kg, and is constructed of carbon fiber skin overlaid on an aluminum honeycomb core. SpaceX designed and fabricates fairings in Hawthorne. Testing was completed at NASA's Plum Brook Station facility in spring 2013 where the acoustic shock and mechanical vibration of launch, plus

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

static discharge conditions, were simulated on a full-size test article in a

vacuum chamber A vacuum chamber is a rigid enclosure from which air and other gases are removed by a vacuum pump. This results in a low-pressure environment within the chamber, commonly referred to as a vacuum. A vacuum environment allows researchers to c ...

. Since 2019, fairings are designed to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and are reused for future missions.

Control systems

SpaceX uses multiple redundant flight computers in a

fault-tolerant design Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to maintain proper operation despite failures or faults in one or more of its components. This capability is essential for high-availability, mission-critical, or even life-critical systems. Fault to ...

. The software runs on

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and is written in C++. For flexibility,

commercial off-the-shelf Commercial-off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

parts and system-wide ''radiation-tolerant'' design are used instead of rad-hardened parts. Each stage has stage-level flight computers, in addition to the Merlin-specific engine controllers, of the same fault-tolerant triad design to handle stage control functions. Each engine

microcontroller A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...

CPU runs on a

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

architecture.

Legs/fins

Boosters that will be deliberately expended do not have legs or fins. Recoverable boosters include four extensible landing legs attached around the base. To control the core's descent through the atmosphere, SpaceX uses grid fins that deploy from the vehicle moments after stage separation. Initially, the V1.2 Full Thrust version of the Falcon 9 were equipped with grid fins made from aluminum, which were eventually replaced by larger, more aerodynamically efficient, and durable titanium fins. The upgraded titanium grid fins, cast and cut from a single piece of titanium, offer significantly better maneuverability and survivability from the extreme heat of re-entry than aluminum grid fins and can be reused indefinitely with minimal refurbishment.

Versions

The Falcon 9 has seen five major revisions: v1.0, v1.1, Full Thrust (also called Block 3 or v1.2), Block 4, and Block 5. V1.0 flew five successful orbital launches from 2010 to 2013. The much larger V1.1 made its first flight in September 2013. The demonstration mission carried a small primary payload, the

satellite. Larger payloads followed, starting with the launch of the SES-8 GEO

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

. Both v1.0 and v1.1 used expendable launch vehicles (ELVs). The

Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Full Thrust (also known as Falcon 9 v1.2) is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle when reused and Heavy-lift launch vehicle when expended designed an ...

made its first flight in December 2015. The first stage of the Full Thrust version was reusable. The current version, known as

Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon 9 Block 5 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, human-rating certification, human-rated, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. I ...

, made its first flight in May 2018.

V1.0

F9 v1.0 was an expendable launch vehicle developed from 2005 to 2010. It flew for the first time in 2010. V1.0 made five flights, after which it was retired. The first stage was powered by nine Merlin 1C engines arranged in a 3 × 3 grid. Each had a sea-level thrust of for a total liftoff thrust of about . The second stage was powered by a single Merlin 1C engine modified for vacuum operation, with an

expansion ratio The expansion ratio of a liquefied and cryogenic substance is the volume of a given amount of that substance in liquid form compared to the volume of the same amount of substance in gaseous form, at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure ...

of 117:1 and a nominal burn time of 345 seconds. Gaseous N thrusters were used on the second-stage as a

reaction control system A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses Thrusters (spacecraft), thrusters to provide Spacecraft attitude control, attitude control and translation (physics), translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels can be used for at ...

(RCS). Early attempts to add a lightweight thermal protection system to the booster stage and parachute recovery were not successful. In 2011, SpaceX began a formal development program for a reusable Falcon 9, initially focusing on the first stage.

V1.1

V1.1 is 60% heavier with 60% more thrust than v1.0. Its nine (more powerful) Merlin 1D engines were rearranged into an "octagonal" pattern that SpaceX called ''Octaweb''. This is designed to simplify and streamline manufacturing. The fuel tanks were 60% longer, making the rocket more susceptible to

bending In applied mechanics, bending (also known as flexure) characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external Structural load, load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element. The structural eleme ...

during flight. The v1.1 first stage offered a total sea-level thrust at liftoff of , with the engines burning for a nominal 180 seconds. The stage's thrust rose to as the booster climbed out of the atmosphere. The stage separation system was redesigned to reduce the number of attachment points from twelve to three, and the vehicle had upgraded avionics and software. These improvements increased the payload capability from to . SpaceX president

Gwynne Shotwell Gwynne Shotwell ( Rowley, previously Gurevich; born November 23, 1963) is an American businesswoman and engineer. She is the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, an American space transportation company, where she is responsible fo ...

stated the v1.1 had about 30% more payload capacity than published on its price list, with the extra margin reserved for returning stages via powered re-entry. Development testing of the first stage was completed in July 2013, and it first flew in September 2013. The second stage igniter propellant lines were later insulated to better support in-space restart following long coast phases for orbital trajectory maneuvers. Four extensible carbon fiber/aluminum

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and stores of honey and pol ...

landing legs were included on later flights where landings were attempted. SpaceX pricing and payload specifications published for v1.1 included about 30% more performance than the published price list indicated; SpaceX reserved the additional performance to perform reusability testing. Many engineering changes to support reusability and recovery of the first stage were made for v1.1.

Full Thrust

The Full Thrust upgrade (also known as FT, v1.2 or Block 3), made major changes. It added cryogenic propellant cooling to increase density allowing 17% higher thrust, improved the stage separation system, stretched the second stage to hold additional propellant, and strengthened struts for holding helium bottles believed to have been involved with the failure of flight 19. It offered a reusable first stage. Plans to reuse the second-stage were abandoned as the weight of a heat shield and other equipment would reduce payload too much. The reusable booster was developed using systems and software tested on the Falcon 9 prototypes. The Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) replaced the ground-based mission flight control personnel and equipment. AFSS offered on-board Positioning, Navigation and Timing sources and decision logic. The benefits of AFSS included increased public safety, reduced reliance on range infrastructure, reduced range spacelift cost, increased schedule predictability and availability, operational flexibility, and launch slot flexibility". FT's capacity allowed SpaceX to choose between increasing payload, decreasing launch price, or both. Its first successful landing came in December 2015 and the first reflight in March 2017. In February 2017, CRS-10 launch was the first operational launch utilizing AFSS. All SpaceX launches after March 16 used AFSS. A June 25 mission carried the second batch of ten Iridium NEXT satellites, for which the aluminum

grid fin Grid fins (or lattice fins) are a type of flight control surfaces, flight control surface used on rockets and bombs, sometimes in place of more conventional control surfaces, such as planar fins. They were developed in the 1950s by a team led by ...

s were replaced by larger

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

versions, to improve control authority, and heat tolerance during

re-entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

Block 4

In 2017, SpaceX started including incremental changes to the Full Thrust, internally dubbed Block 4. Initially, only the second stage was modified to Block 4 standards, flying on top of a Block 3 first stage for three missions: NROL-76 and Inmarsat-5 F5 in May 2017, and Intelsat 35e in July 2017. Block 4 was described as a transition between the Full Thrust v1.2 Block 3 and Block 5. It includes incremental engine thrust upgrades leading to Block 5. The maiden flight of the full Block 4 design (first and second stages) was the SpaceX CRS-12 mission on August 14.

Block 5

In October 2016, Musk described Block 5 as coming with "a lot of minor refinements that collectively are important, but uprated thrust and improved legs are the most significant". In January 2017, Musk added that Block 5 "significantly improves performance and ease of reusability". The maiden flight took place on May 11, 2018, with the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 satellite.

Capabilities

Performance

Reliability

As of , Falcon 9 had achieved out of full mission successes ().

SpaceX CRS-1 SpaceX CRS-1, also known as SpX-1, was SpaceX, SpaceX's first operational cargo mission to the International Space Station, under their Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA. It was the third flight for the uncrewed SpaceX Dra ...

succeeded in its primary mission, but left a secondary payload in a wrong orbit, while SpaceX CRS-7 was destroyed in flight. In addition, AMOS-6 disintegrated on the launch pad during fueling for an engine test. Block 5 has a success rate of (/). For comparison, the industry benchmark Soyuz series has performed 1880 launches with a success rate of 95.1% (the latest

Soyuz-2 Soyuz2 (; GRAU index: 14A14) is a Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle and the seventh major iteration of the Soyuz rocket family. Compared to its predecessors, Soyuz-2 features significant upgrades, including improved engines and ...

's success rate is 94%), the Russian Proton series has performed 425 launches with a success rate of 88.7% (the latest

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an Expendable launch system, expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet Union, Soviet-developed Proton (rocket family), Proton. It is built by Khrunichev State R ...

's success rate is 90.1%), the European

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationar ...

has performed 117 launches with a success rate of 95.7%, and Chinese

Long March 3B The Long March 3B (), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on ...

has performed 85 launches with a success rate of 95.3%. F9's launch sequence includes a hold-down feature that allows full engine ignition and systems check before liftoff. After the first-stage engine starts, the launcher is held down and not released for flight until all propulsion and vehicle systems are confirmed to be operating normally. Similar hold-down systems have been used on launch vehicles such as

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

and

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

. An automatic safe shut-down and unloading of propellant occur if any abnormal conditions are detected. Prior to the launch date,

sometimes completes a test cycle, culminating in a three-and-a-half second first stage engine static firing. F9 has triple-redundant flight computers and inertial navigation, with a GPS overlay for additional accuracy. Since the middle of 2024, the Falcon 9 has been involved in a number of mission anomalies, which have raised reliability concerns about the rocket. On July 2024 the upper stage engine of the Falcon 9 malfunctioned during the launch of the Starlink Group 9-3 mission, resulting in the total loss of the payload and the Federal Aviation Administration grounding the rocket for two weeks. On August 2024 a Falcon 9 booster tipped over and was destroyed during landing after a successful Starlink launch, resulting in the first unsuccessful booster landing in over three years for SpaceX. The rocket was briefly grounded for two days. In September 2024, after the successful launch of the Crew-9 mission, the upper stage engine again malfunctioned during a deorbit burn, causing it to reenter outside its designed zone and resulting in another grounding of the Falcon fleet. This anomaly occurred only ten days before the planned launch date of NASA's flagship

Europa Clipper Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa (moon), Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mar ...

mission, which had a limited launch window and required two burns of the rocket's upper stage, prompting NASA to participate in the investigation and convene its own independent anomaly review board. Europa Clipper eventually launched successfully on October 14. These anomalies were mentioned on NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 2024 Annual Report, which warned that SpaceX's fast cadence of launches may "interfere with sound judgment, deliberate analysis, and careful implementation of corrective actions", while also praising the company's "openness with NASA and willingness to address each situation". On February 2025, another upper stage malfunction occurred after the launch of the Starlink Group 11-4 mission, which prevented the stage from executing its planned deorbit burn. It remained in orbit for two weeks before eventually falling near the city of

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Poland in an uncontrolled reentry. Similar to the July 2024 failure, this anomaly was also caused by a liquid oxygen leak in the upper stage's engine. On March 2025, a Falcon 9 booster was lost when it caught fire and tipped over after a droneship landing following a Starlink launch. This failure was blamed on a fuel leak that occurred inside one of the first stage engines during ascent. Space journalist Eric Berger has argued that the main factor behind the recent anomalies is SpaceX's "ever-present pressure to accelerate, even while taking on more and more challenging tasks", noting that the company may have reached "the speed limit for commercial spaceflight". He also noted that SpaceX is under intense pressure to develop its super-heavy

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...

rocket, with many talented engineers being moved off from the Falcon and Dragon programs onto Starship.

Engine-out capability

Like the

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

family of rockets, multiple engines allow for mission completion even if one fails. Detailed descriptions of destructive engine failure modes and designed-in engine-out capabilities were made public. SpaceX emphasized that the first stage is designed for "engine-out" capability. CRS-1 in October 2012 was a partial success after engine number 1 lost pressure at 79 seconds, and then shut down. To compensate for the resulting loss of acceleration, the first stage had to burn 28 seconds longer than planned, and the second stage had to burn an extra 15 seconds. That extra burn time reduced fuel reserves so that the likelihood that there was sufficient fuel to execute the mission dropped from 99% to 95%. Because NASA had purchased the launch and therefore contractually controlled several mission decision points, NASA declined SpaceX's request to restart the second stage and attempt to deliver the secondary payload into the correct orbit. As a result, the secondary payload reentered the atmosphere. Merlin 1D engines have suffered two premature shutdowns on ascent. Neither has affected the primary mission, but both landing attempts failed. On an March 18, 2020, Starlink mission, one of the first stage engines failed 3 seconds before cut-off due to the ignition of some

isopropyl alcohol Isopropyl alcohol (IUPAC name propan-2-ol and also called isopropanol or 2-propanol) is a colorless, flammable, organic compound with a pungent alcoholic odor. Isopropyl alcohol, an organic polar molecule, is miscible in water, ethanol, an ...

that was not properly purged after cleaning. On another Starlink mission on February 15, 2021, hot exhaust gasses entered an engine due to a fatigue-related hole in its cover. SpaceX stated the failed cover had the "highest... number of flights that this particular boot overdesign had seen."

Reusability

SpaceX planned from the beginning to make both stages reusable. The first stages of early Falcon flights were equipped with parachutes and were covered with a layer of

ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages. It is used to indicate motion away from something, make comparisons, and serve various o ...

cork to allow them to survive atmospheric re-entry. These were defeated by the accompanying aerodynamic stress and heating. The stages were salt-water corrosion-resistant. In late 2011, SpaceX eliminated parachutes in favor of powered descent. The design was complete by February 2012. Powered landings were first flight-tested with the suborbital Grasshopper rocket. Between 2012 and 2013, this low-altitude, low-speed demonstration test vehicle made eight vertical landings, including a 79-second round-trip flight to an altitude of . In March 2013, SpaceX announced that as of the first v1.1 flight, every booster would be equipped for powered descent.

Post-mission flight tests and landing attempts

For Flight 6 in September 2013, after stage separation, the

flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

plan called for the first stage to conduct a burn to reduce its reentry velocity, and then a second burn just before reaching the water. Although not a complete success, the stage was able to change direction and make a controlled entry into the atmosphere. During the final landing burn, the RCS thrusters could not overcome an aerodynamically induced spin. The centrifugal force deprived the engine of fuel, leading to early engine shutdown and a hard splashdown. After four more ocean landing tests, the CRS-5 booster attempted a landing on the ASDS floating platform in January 2015. The rocket incorporated (for the first time in an orbital mission)

aerodynamic control surfaces, and successfully guided itself to the ship, before running out of hydraulic fluid and crashing into the platform. A second attempt occurred in April 2015, on CRS-6. After the launch, the bipropellant valve became stuck, preventing the control system from reacting rapidly enough for a successful landing. The first attempt to land a booster on a ground pad near the launch site occurred on flight 20, in December 2015. The landing was successful and the booster was recovered. This was the first time in history that after launching an orbital mission, a first stage achieved a controlled vertical landing. The first successful booster landing on an ASDS occurred in April 2016 on the drone ship '' Of Course I Still Love You'' during CRS-8. Sixteen test flights were conducted from 2013 to 2016, six of which achieved a soft landing and booster recovery. Since January 2017, with the exceptions of the centre core from the Falcon Heavy test flight,

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket consists of a center core ...

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

STP-2 mission, the Falcon 9 CRS-16 resupply mission and the

-4, 5, and 19 missions, every landing attempt has been successful. Two boosters have been lost or destroyed at sea after landing: the center core used during the Arabsat-6A mission, and B1058 after completing a Starlink flight.

Relaunch

The first operational relaunch of a previously flown booster was accomplished in March 2017 with B1021 on the SES-10 mission after CRS-8 in April 2016. After landing a second time, it was retired. In June 2017, booster B1029 helped carry BulgariaSat-1 towards GTO after an Iridium NEXT LEO mission in January 2017, again achieving reuse and landing of a recovered booster. The third reuse flight came in November 2018 on the SSO-A mission. The core for the mission, Falcon 9 B1046, was the first Block 5 booster produced, and had flown initially on the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission. In May 2021 the first booster reached 10 missions. Musk indicated that SpaceX intends to fly boosters until they see a failure in Starlink missions. As of , the record is flights by the same booster.

Recovery of fairings

SpaceX developed

s equipped with a steerable parachute as well as RCS thrusters that can be recovered and reused. A payload fairing half was recovered following a soft-landing in the ocean for the first time in March 2017, following SES-10. Subsequently, development began on a ship-based system involving a massive net, in order to catch returning fairings. Two dedicated ships were outfitted for this role, making their first catches in 2019. However, following mixed success, SpaceX returned to water landings and wet recovery.

Recovery of second stages

Despite public statements that they would endeavor to make the second-stage reusable as well, by late 2014, SpaceX determined that the mass needed for a heat shield, landing engines, and other equipment to support recovery of the second stage was prohibitive, and abandoned second-stage reusability efforts.

Launch sites

The Falcon 9 launches from three orbital launch sites: Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

in Florida (operational since 2007), Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) of

Vandenberg Space Force Base Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the ...

in California (operational since 2013), and Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) of the

in Florida (operational since 2017). SpaceX has designated specific roles for each launch site based on mission profiles. SLC-40 serves as the company’s high-volume launch pad for missions to medium-inclination orbits (28.5–55°). SLC-4E is optimized for launches to highly inclined polar orbits (66–145°). LC-39A is primarily reserved for complex missions, such as Crew Dragon or Falcon Heavy launches. However, in 2024, SLC-40 was upgraded to accommodate Crew Dragon launches as a backup to LC-39A. On April 21, 2023, the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...

granted SpaceX permission to lease Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6). This will become SpaceX’s fourth orbital launch site, providing a second pad for highly inclined polar orbit launches and enabling Falcon Heavy launches from the West Coast.

Pricing

At the time of the Falcon 9's maiden flight in 2010, the advertised price for commercial satellite launches using the v1.0 version was $49.9–56 million. Over the years, the price increased, keeping pace with inflation. By 2012, it rose to $54–59.5 million, followed by $56.5 million for the v1.1 version in 2013, $61.2 million in 2014, $62 million for the Full Thrust version in 2016, and $69.75 million for the Block 5 version in 2024. Government contracts typically involve higher prices, determined through competitive bidding processes. For instance, Dragon cargo missions to the ISS cost $133 million under a fixed-price contract with

, which included the spacecraft's use. Similarly, the 2013

DSCOVR Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR; formerly known as Triana, unofficially known as GoreSat) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) space weather, space climate, and Earth observation satellite. It was launched by Spac ...

mission for

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...

, launched aboard a Falcon 9, cost $97 million. As of 2020, U.S. Air Force launches using the Falcon 9 cost $95 million due to added security requirements. Because of the higher prices charged to government customers, in 2020,

Roscosmos The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...

administrator Dmitry Rogozin accused SpaceX of price dumping in the commercial marketplace. The declining costs of Falcon 9 launches prompted competitors to develop lower-cost launch vehicles.

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

introduced the

Ariane 6 Ariane 6 is a European expendable launch system developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) and manufactured by a consortium of European companies, led by the prime contractor ArianeGroup. As part of the Ariane rocket family, it is operate ...

, United Launch Alliance, ULA developed the Vulcan Centaur, and Roscosmos focused on the

. ULA CEO Tory Bruno stated that in their estimates, each booster would need to fly ten times to break even on the additional costs of designing and operating reusable rockets. Musk countered, asserting that Falcon 9's recovery and refurbishment costs were under 10%, achieving breakeven after just two flights and yielding substantial savings by the third. As of 2024, SpaceX's internal costs for a Falcon 9 launch are estimated between $15 million and $28 million, factoring in workforce expenses, refurbishment, assembly, operations, and facility depreciation. These efficiencies are primarily due to the reuse of first-stage boosters and payload fairings. The second stage, which is not reused, is believed to be the largest expense per launch, with the company's COO stating that each costs $12 million to produce.

Rideshare payload programs

SpaceX provides two rideshare programs, regularly scheduled Falcon 9 flights for small satellite deployment: Transporter and Bandwagon. The Transporter program started in 2021 and specializes in delivering payloads to sun-synchronous orbits, primarily serving Earth observation missions, with flights typically operating every four months. The Bandwagon program started in 2024, offers access to mid-inclination orbits of approximately 45 degrees, with flights typically operating every six months. Unlike traditional secondary payload arrangements, these programs do not rely on a primary mission. Instead, SpaceX provides a unique "cake topper" option for larger satellites between . Price for 50 kg payload is US$300,000 to Sun-synchronous orbit, SSO. SpaceX also offers more traditional rideshares where small satellites piggyback on the launch of a large primary payload. In the past, the company has offered clients the option to mount payloads using the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring, the same Multistage rocket, interstage adapter first used for launching secondary payloads on United States Department of Defense, US DoD missions that use the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV) Atlas V and Delta IV. Even though the Falcon 9 is a medium-lift launch vehicle, through these programs, SpaceX has become the leading provider of rideshare launches. Given the company's frequent launch cadence and low prices, operators of Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift launch vehicles have found it difficult to compete.

Public display of Falcon 9 vehicles

SpaceX first put a Falcon 9 (List of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters#Booster 1019, B1019) on public display at their headquarters in Hawthorne, California, in 2016. In 2019, SpaceX donated a Falcon 9 (B1035) to Space Center Houston, in Houston, Texas. It was a booster that flew two missions, "the 11th and 13th Commercial Resupply Services, supply missions to the International Space Station [and was] the first Falcon 9 rocket NASA agreed to fly a second time". In 2021, SpaceX donated a Falcon Heavy side booster (List of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters#Boosters 1023 and 1025, B1023) to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. In 2023, a Falcon 9 (List of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters#Booster 1021, B1021) has been put on public display outside Dish Network's headquarters in Littleton, Colorado.

Influence on space industry

The Russian space agency has launched the development of Soyuz-7 which shares many similarities with Falcon 9, including a reusable first stage that will land vertically with the help of legs. The first launch is planned for 2028-2030. China's Beijing Tianbing Technology company is developing Tianlong-3, which is benchmarked against Falcon 9. In 2024, China’s central government designated commercial space as a key industry for support, with the reusable medium-lift launchers being necessary to deploy China’s planned low Earth orbit Satellite internet constellation, communications megaconstellations.

Notes

References

External links

Falcon 9 official page

SAOCOM 1B , Launch and Landing
* Test firing of two Merlin 1C engines connected to Falcon 9 first stage
Movie 1Movie 2
(January 18, 2008)
Press release announcing design
(September 9, 2005)

(Flight International, September 13, 2005)
SpaceX launches Falcon 9, With A Customer
(Defense Industry Daily, September 15, 2005) {{Rocket families Articles containing video clips SpaceX launch vehicles Partially reusable space launch vehicles Vehicles introduced in 2010