Falcon 9
First Orbital Class Rocket Capable of Reflight
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
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.
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
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
Payload
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
Engines
Merlin
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 |
