# First Orbital Class Rocket Capable of Reflight

- 0 Completed missions
- 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

|     |     |
| --- | --- |
| Height | 70 m / 229.6 ft |
| Diameter | 3.7 m / 12 ft |
| Mass | 549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lbs |
| Payload to LEO | 22,800 kg / 50,265 lbs |
| Payload to GTO | 8,300 kg / 18,300 lbs |
| Payload to Mars | 4,020 kg / 8,860 lbs |

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.

## Falcon 9

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

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

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 |

### Video

## Falcon 9 in flight

Dedicated rideshare missions to orbit.

[Learn more](https://www.spacex.com/rideshare)

## Engines

Sea level  Vacuum

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 |

Falcon 9 launches Dragon to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A

For information about our launch services, contact [sales@spacex.com](mailto:sales@spacex.com)  
[Download User's Guide](https://sxcontent9668.azureedge.us/cms-assets/assets/falcon-users-guide-2025-05-09.pdf)  
[Capabilities and Services](https://www.spacex.com/assets/media/Capabilities&Services.pdf)