FALCON 9

FIRST ORBITAL CLASS ROCKET CAPABLE OF REFLIGHT

0

TOTAL LAUNCHES

0

TOTAL LANDINGS

0

TOTAL REFLIGHTS

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.

FALCON 9

OVERVIEW

HEIGHT

70 m / 229.6 ft

DIAMETER

3.7 m / 12 ft

MASS

549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb

PAYLOAD TO LEO

22,800 kg / 50,265 lb

PAYLOAD TO GTO

8,300 kg / 18,300 lb

PAYLOAD TO MARS

4,020 kg / 8,860 lb
FALCON 9

FIRST STAGE
- Falcon 9’s first stage incorporates nine Merlin engines and aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant.
  
  Falcon 9 generates more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level.
- The nine Merlin engines on the first stage are gradually throttled near the end of first-stage flight to limit launch vehicle acceleration as the rocket’s mass decreases with the burning of fuel. These engines are also used to reorient the first stage prior to reentry and to decelerate the vehicle for landing.
  
  NUMBER OF ENGINES
  
  9
  
  THRUST AT SEA LEVEL
  
  7,607 kN / 1,710,000 lbf
  
  THRUST IN VACUUM
  
  8,227 kN / 1,849,500 lbf
- The Falcon 9 first stage is equipped with four landing legs made of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb.
  
  Placed symmetrically around the base of the rocket, they are stowed at the base of the vehicle and deploy just prior to landing.
  Learn more about SpaceX reuseability
FALCON 9

SECOND STAGE

The second stage, powered by a single Merlin Vacuum Engine, delivers Falcon 9’s payload to the desired orbit. The second stage engine ignites a few seconds after stage separation, and can be restarted multiple times to place multiple payloads into different orbits.

NUMBER OF ENGINES

1 vacuum

BURN TIME

397 sec

THRUST

981 kN / 220,500 lbf
FALCON 9

INTERSTAGE

The interstage is a composite structure that connects the first and second stages, and houses the pneumatic pushers that allow the first and second stage to separate during flight.

GRID FINS

Falcon 9 is equipped with four hypersonic grid fins positioned at the base of the interstage. They orient the rocket during reentry by moving the center of pressure.
FALCON 9

PAYLOAD
- FAIRING
- DRAGON
- Made of a carbon composite material, the fairing protects satellites on their way to orbit. The fairing is jettisoned approximately 3 minutes into flight, and SpaceX continues to recover fairings for reuse on future missions.
  
  HEIGHT
  
  13.1 m / 43 ft
  
  DIAMETER
  
  5.2 m / 17.1 ft
- Dragon is capable of carrying up to 7 people and/or cargo in the spacecraft’s pressurized section. In addition, Dragon can carry cargo in the spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk, which can also accommodate secondary payloads.
  
  HEIGHT
  
  8.1 m / 26.6 ft
  
  DIAMETER
  
  3.7 m / 12 ft

VIDEO

FALCON 9 IN FLIGHT

FALCON 9

FIRST STAGE

Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Merlin engines use a rocket grade kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for recovery and reuse.

PROPELLANT

LOX / RP-1

THRUST

845 kN / 190,000 lbf
Merlin Vacuum features a larger exhaust section and a significantly larger expansion nozzle to maximize the engine’s efficiency in the vacuum of space. Its combustion chamber is regeneratively cooled, while the expansion nozzle is radiatively cooled. At full power, the Merlin Vacuum engine operates with the greatest efficiency ever for an American-made hydrocarbon rocket engine.

NUMBER OF ENGINES

9

THRUST

981 kN / 220,500 lbf

Falcon 9 first and second stages after seperating in flight
Falcon 9 lifts off with its Iridium-5 payload
Falcon 9 lands on a droneship Just Read the Instructions
Close-up on Falcon 9's Merlin engines during liftoff
Falcon 9 leaves a trail of light as it lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base
Falcon 9 lifts off with Dragon for an in-flight test of the Crew Dragon abort system
Falcon 9 lifts off with its Iridium-8 payload
Falcon 9 with its Radarsat payload at sunset before launch
Falcon 9 lands at Cape Canaveral
Falcon 9 vertical with its Iridium payload at moonrise
Falcon 9 launches Dragon to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A