The Falcon 9 rocket is truly delivering on the promise of rapid, reusable launch.

SpaceX recently hit some notable milestones with its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, and even in the full context of history, the performance of the vehicle is pretty incredible.

Last Tuesday, the company launched a batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket, marking the 400th successful mission by the Falcon 9 rocket. Additionally, it was the Falcon program's 375th booster recovery, according to SpaceX. Finally, with this mission, the company shattered its record for turnaround time from the landing of a booster to its launch to 13 days and 12 hours, down from 21 days.

But even though it was mere hours before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, SpaceX was not done for the month. On Saturday, November 30, the company launched twice more in a little more than three hours. The payloads were more Starlink Internet satellites in addition to two Starshield satellites—a custom version of Starlink for the US Department of Defense—for the US military. //

So far this year, SpaceX has launched a total of 119 Falcon 9 rockets, for an average of a launch every 2.3 days. The company has already superseded its previous record total for annual Falcon 9 launches, 92, completed last year. If SpaceX achieves its goal of 15 additional Falcon 9 launches this month, it would bring the company's total this year to 134 flights. If you add two Falcon Heavy missions to that, it brings the total to 136 launches.

That is a meaningful number, because over the course of the three decades it flew into orbit, NASA's Space Shuttle flew 135 missions.

The space shuttle was a significantly more complex vehicle, and unlike the Falcon 9 rocket, humans flew aboard it during every mission. However, there is some historical significance in the fact that the Falcon rocket may fly as many missions in a single year as the space shuttle did during its lifetime. //

The principal goal of the Falcon program was to demonstrate rapid, low-cost reusability. By one estimate, it cost NASA about $1.5 billion to fly a single space shuttle mission. (Like the Falcon 9, the shuttle was mostly but not completely reusable.) SpaceX's internal costs for a Falcon 9 launch are estimated to be as low as $15 million. So SpaceX has achieved a flight rate about 30 times higher than the shuttle at one-hundredth the cost.

Space enthusiast Ryan Caton also crunched the numbers on the number of SpaceX launches this year compared to some of its competitors. So far this year, SpaceX has launched as many rockets as Roscosmos has since 2013, United Launch Alliance since 2010, and Arianespace since 2009. This year alone, the Falcon 9 has launched more times than the Ariane 4, Ariane 5, or Atlas V rockets each did during their entire careers. //

Booster no. 1067 completed its 23rd flight by launching the Koreasat 62 mission into geostationary transfer orbit. Maybe we'll see it go for two dozen before 2024 is out? //

PhillyJimi Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
7y
154
Missing another really important point. SX is going to build over 100 2nd stages this year and they have build over 400. Yes, reusing the 1st stage is great but that is some impressive production from SX to kick out that many 2nd stages. //

Wickwick Ars Legatus Legionis
14y
37,082
OrvGull said:
Goes to show what a cul-de-sac manned space flight was.

The Shuttle's flight rate was not limited to what it was because it was manned.

By the time it retires, Atlas V will have flown about 115 flights in 24 years. That's a worse cadence than the Shuttles maintained. By your logic, it's an example of what a cul-de-sac unmanned flight was. //

pavon Ars Tribunus Militum
17y
2,206
Subscriptor
That shuttle comparison isn't apples to apples. First, Crew Dragon missions cost a lot more than a normal Falcon 9 launch. SpaceX is paid $350 million per mission, and OIG has estimated Space X's internal cost to be around $220 million per mission. In addition the Shuttle was able to launch both crew and cargo at once, and usually did so with ISS missions. The shuttle cargo capacity was roughly double a reusable Falcon 9 or half a reusable Falcon Heavy. Published Falcon Heavy mission prices vary a lot (from $117-330 million), but lets take a WAG and say $100 million internal cost. So depending on mission needs the comparison would range from:

Crew Dragon + Falcon Heavy Cargo $330M ~= 1/4.5 Shuttle
Crew Dragon + Falcon 9 Cargo $235M ~= 1/6 Shuttle
Falcon Heavy Only $100M ~= 1/15 Shuttle
Falcon 9 Only $15M ~= 1/100 Shuttle

So for the most common ISS case the Shuttle was about 5 times more expensive than Space X, and that is internal cost - it would be closer comparing the actual price NASA pays. That is still a big multiplier, but it was only when the humans weren't a mission requirement and were only along for the ride that it was stupid expensive. //

mhalpern Ars Praefectus
6y
42,765
latteland said:
SpaceX is amazing, world beating even, but this comparison is misleading. The shuttle was human rated and a generic falcon 9 is not. The human rated versions of falcon 9 have performed extremely well, but they don't launch them over and over for human use, just once afaik.
all F9s flying today are human rated, they just don't put people on them after their 5th flight