A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft (Picture: Joel Kowsky/NASA/Getty)
SpaceX is the future – well, at least that’s what its CEO Elon Musk would have you believe.
But in the company, there is one nifty invention that has really made its mark in the space industry. The Falcon 9.
The Falcon 9 a reusable rocket that was first used in 2010, and almost 15 years later, the vehicle is still going strong. Duties include launching Moon landers firing cargo and crew towards the International Space Station (ISS).
But, there are a few important things to note when it comes to Falcon 9.
Here is everything you need to know.
What does SpaceX’s Falcon 9 do?
Falcon 9 is used to launch payloads – cargo and crew – into space.
It is a two-stage rocket, meaning it splits into two parts during ascent.
The first stage is powered by nine (hence the name) Merlin engines. This stage does the real heavy lifting, getting the second stage and payload off the ground. At around 50 miles above the Earth, the two stages separate.
The second, or upper, stage is powered by a single Merlin engine and carries the payload further out into space.
This is where the Falcon 9 differs from most rockets – and is very cool.
After separation, it performs a flip procedure to right itself, and slowly returns to Earth, landing vertically just as it took off, ready to fly again (after a bit of an MOT).
SpaceX Crew Dragon, atop the Falcon 9 rocket, inside the hangar, just before rollout to the launchpad (Picture: Getty)
Two Falcon 9’s share the record for most launches at 19.
The reusable rocket is designed to make space more accessible, and reduce the cost of going into space – but of course, it’s still a lot.
Is Falcon 9 going to the Moon?
Falcon 9 itself will not be going to the Moon, but it has now helped send a lander there.
The Odysseus lunar lander touched down near the Moon’s south pole on Friday last week after being launched by a Falcon 9 a week earlier.
It was the first successful soft landing on the Moon by a private company, and the first for the US since the last of the Apollo missions.
However, Moon missions are a rare beast – if you want to catch a Falcon 9 liftoff, you can see them launching Starlink satellites dozens of times a year.
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What makes Falcon 9 special?
The main thing that makes Falcon 9 special is its reusability aspect, where most of the rocket can be used time and time again to help lower the cost of going into space.
Falcon 9 has also had a lot of firsts. It was the first commercial rocket to launch humans into orbit and remains the only such vehicle to do so, and is the only US rocket certified for transporting humans to the ISS.
In 2022, it became the US rocket with the most launches in history, and with the best safety record, having suffered just one flight failure, as well as being the first reusable rocket.
What a blaster, eh?
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