Falcon 9
SpaceX's two-stage launcher, nine Merlin engines on the first stage and one on the second, both burning kerosene and liquid oxygen. Its first stage flies back to land on a pad or a drone ship and is reused, which has made it the most frequently launched rocket in the world. It carries Crew Dragon and its astronauts to the International Space Station, as well as satellites and probes such as DART.
Key figures
- Builder
- SpaceX
- Status
- In service
- First flight
- 2010
- Height
- 69.8 m
- Diameter
- 3.7 m
- Mass at launch
- 549 t
- Liftoff thrust
- 7,607 kN
- Payload to low Earth orbit
- 22.8 t
- Payload to geostationary transfer orbit
- 8.3 t