As of 11 February 2025, all variants of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust (including Block 4 and 5) had performed 420 launches with only one failure: Starlink Group 9-3.

On December 22, 2015, the Full Thrust version of the Falcon 9 family was the first launch vehicle on an orbital trajectory to successfully vertically land a first stage.

[11] A principal objective of the new design was to facilitate booster re-usability for a larger range of missions, including delivery of large commsats to geosynchronous orbit.

The Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a modified reusable variant of the Falcon 9 family with capabilities that exceed the Falcon 9 v1.1, including the ability to "land the first stage for geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) missions on the drone ship"[14][15] The rocket was designed using systems and software technology that had been developed as part of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program, a private initiative by SpaceX to facilitate rapid reusability of both the first–and in the long term, second—stages of SpaceX launch vehicles.

[19] A principal objective of the new design was to facilitate booster reusability for a larger range of missions, including delivery of large commsats to geosynchronous orbit.

On 30 March 2017, SpaceX for the first time recovered a fairing from the SES-10 mission, thanks to thrusters and a steerable parachute helping it glide towards a gentle touchdown on water.

[24] On the 25 June 2017 flight (Iridium NEXT 11–20), aluminum grid fins were replaced by titanium versions, to improve control authority and better cope with heat during re-entry.

For all future SpaceX launches, AFSS has replaced "the ground-based mission flight control personnel and equipment with on-board Positioning, Navigation and Timing sources and decision logic.

"[27][28] In 2017, SpaceX started flying incremental changes to the Falcon 9 Full Thrust version, calling them "Block 4".

It is a "composite structure consisting of an aluminum honeycomb core surrounded by a carbon fiber face sheet plies".

[37] The Falcon 9 Full Thrust upgraded vehicle "includes first-stage recovery systems, to allow SpaceX to return the first stage to the launch site after completion of primary mission requirements.

At that time, the additional performance was reserved for SpaceX to conduct reusability testing with the Falcon 9 v1.1 while still achieving the specified payloads for customers.

[42] SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell explained in March 2015 that the new design would result in streamlined production as well as improved performance:[15] So, we got the higher thrust engines, finished development on that, we're in [qualification testing].

[14] According to a SpaceX statement in May 2015, Falcon 9 Full Thrust would likely not require a recertification to launch for United States government contracts.

On 1 September 2016, the rocket carrying Spacecom's AMOS-6 exploded on its launchpad (Launch Complex 40) while fueling in preparation for a static fire test.

[50] The subsequent investigation showed the root cause to be ignition of solid or liquid oxygen compressed between layers of the immersed helium tanks' carbon-fiber wrappings.

Following the 2016 accident at LC-40, launches from the East Coast were switched to the refurbished pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, leased from NASA.

[52] Architectural and engineering design work on changes to LC-39A had begun in 2013, the contract to lease the pad from NASA was signed in April 2014, with construction commencing later in 2014,[53] including the building of a large Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) in order to house both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles with associated hardware and payloads during processing.

[60] Starting in 2014, SpaceX commissioned the construction of autonomous spaceport drone ships (ASDS) from deck barges, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform.

The ships, which are stationed hundreds of kilometers downrange, allow for first stage recovery on high-velocity missions which cannot return to the launch site.

[63] Both A Shortfall of Gravitas and Just Read the Instructions are used in the Atlantic for launches from Cape Canaveral, while Of Course I Still Love You is being operated in the Pacific from the port of Vandenberg.