In 2022 Falcon 9 set a new record of 60 launches (all successful) by the same launch vehicle type in a calendar year. The active version, Falcon 9 Block 5, has flown 177 missions, all full successes. Additionally, one rocket and its payload AMOS-6 were destroyed before launch in preparation for an on-pad static fire test. Rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 239 times over 13 years, resulting in 237 full mission successes ( 99.2%), one partial success ( SpaceX CRS-1 delivered its cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), but a secondary payload was stranded in a lower-than-planned orbit), and one full failure (the SpaceX CRS-7 spacecraft was lost in flight in an explosion). Launches to higher orbits have included the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) probe to the Sun–Earth Lagrange point L 1, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope on a lunar flyby trajectory, the Falcon Heavy test flight which launched Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster into a heliocentric orbit extending beyond the orbit of Mars, and Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) into the minor-planet moon Dimorphos of the double asteroid Didymos. The heaviest payload launched to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) was Intelsat 35e with 6,761 kg (14,905 lb). The heaviest payload launched to LEO is a batch of 56 Starlink v1.5 satellites weighing a total of around 17,400 kg (38,400 lb) on 26 January 2023. A total of 38 boosters have flown multiple missions, with a record of 15 missions by the same booster.įalcon 9's typical missions include cargo delivery and crewed flights to the International Space Station (ISS) with the Dragon and Dragon 2 capsules, launch of communications satellites and Earth observation satellites to geostationary transfer orbits (GTO), and low Earth orbits (LEO), some of them at a polar inclination. Falcon family core boosters have successfully landed 201 times in 212 attempts. This reusability has resulted in significantly reduced launch costs. In December 2015, Falcon 9 became the first rocket to land propulsively after delivering a payload into orbit. The Falcon design features reusable first-stage boosters, which land either on a ground pad near the launch site or on a drone ship at sea. Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift derivative of Falcon 9, combining a strengthened central core with two Falcon 9 first stages as the side boosters. In addition, one rocket and its payload were destroyed on the launch pad during the fueling process before a static fire test was set to occur.ĭesigned and operated by private manufacturer SpaceX, the Falcon 9 rocket family includes the retired versions Falcon 9 v1.0, v1.1, and v1.2 "Full Thrust" Block 1 to 4, along with the active Block 5 evolution. Since June 2010, rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 239 times, with 237 full mission successes, one partial failure and one total loss of the spacecraft. Perched atop the slender rocket was a German radar reconnaissance satellite known as SARah 1, the first of three planned by the Bundeswehr defense ministry to replace an aging, less-capable system.Left to right: Falcon 9 v1.0, v1.1, v1.2 "Full Thrust", Falcon 9 Block 5, Falcon Heavy, and Falcon Heavy Block 5. local time) when a Falcon 9 vaulted away from fog-shrouded pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It was the second of three planned Falcon 9 flights in just 36 hours. A camera attached to the side of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shows the California coast dropping away below as the booster climbed toward space carrying a German reconnaissance satellite. More than 50 launches are expected by the end of the year. If Sunday's launch of a Globalstar communications satellite goes off on schedule, it will mark the fastest three-flight cadence for an orbit-class rocket in modern space history, chalking up SpaceX's 158th, 159th and 160th Falcon 9 flights in just 36 hours and 18 minutes. The successful flight set the stage for a third Falcon 9 launch back in Florida just 14 hours later. Less than 24 hours after launching 53 Starlink satellites from Florida, SpaceX launched a German radar reconnaissance satellite from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday.
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