Falcon 9

Information

Falcon 9 is a partially reuseable two-stage launch vehicle designed and operated by SpaceX. Falcon 9 was initially chosen by NASA as a commercial solution to ferry cargo supplies to and from the International Space Station. Since its debut flight in June 2010, Falcon 9 has gone on to become on of the most frequently flown launch vehicles in history. On December 22nd 2015, Falcon 9 performed the first ever landing of an orbital class rocket booster on the maiden flight of the Block 3 iteration. On March 30th 2017, Falcon 9 performed the first ever re-flight of an orbital rocket. Initially designed for up to ten flights per booster, Falcon 9 has far surpassed this goal with several boosters now over 20 flights. After successfully proving itself to NASA following a number of successful cargo resupply missions, Falcon 9 was chosen to help in bringing astronauts to and from the ISS. In May 2020, Falcon 9 performed its first crewed mission becoming the first ever privately developed human-rated launch vehicle.