List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches

[1] The Falcon design features reusable first-stage boosters, which land either on a ground pad near the launch site or on a drone ship at sea.

The heaviest payload launched on Falcon is a batch of 24 Starlink V2-Mini satellites weighing about 17,500 kg (38,600 lb) total, first flown in February 2024,[7] landing on JRTI.

[b][9] In 2024, SpaceX broke their own record with 134 total Falcon flights (133 successful) accounting for over half of all orbital launches that year.

From June 2010, to the end of 2019, Falcon 9 was launched 77 times, with 75 full mission successes, one partial failure and one total loss of the spacecraft.

In addition, one rocket and its payload were destroyed on the launch pad during the fueling process before a static fire test was set to occur.

[586] The second launch of Falcon 9 was COTS Demo Flight 1, which placed an operational Dragon capsule in orbit on 8 December 2010.

[593] Due to ISS visiting vehicle safety rules, at NASA's request, the secondary payload Orbcomm-2 was released into a lower-than-intended orbit.

[597] After the second stage separation and delivering CASSIOPE, a very small payload relative to the rocket's capability, SpaceX conducted a novel high-altitude, high-velocity flight test wherein the booster attempted to reenter the lower atmosphere in a controlled manner and decelerate to a simulated over-water landing.

[598] In June 2015, Falcon 9 Flight 19 carried a Dragon capsule on the seventh Commercial Resupply Services mission to the ISS.

[600] Performance was nominal until T+140 seconds into launch when a cloud of white vapor appeared, followed by rapid loss of second-stage LOX tank pressure.

[601] Subsequent investigations traced the cause of the accident to the failure of a strut that secured a helium bottle inside the second-stage LOX tank.

[602][603] NASA's independent accident investigation into the loss of SpaceX CRS-7 found that the failure of the strut which led to the breakup of the Falcon-9 represented a design error.

This launch inaugurated a new Falcon 9 Full Thrust version of its flagship rocket featuring increased performance, notably thanks to subcooling of the propellants.

[606] After recovery, the first stage booster performed further ground tests and then was put on permanent display outside SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

[607] On 8 April 2016, SpaceX delivered its commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station marking the return-to-flight of the Dragon capsule, after the loss of CRS-7.

[609] On 1 September 2016, the 29th Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad while propellant was being loaded for a routine pre-launch static fire test.

[610] On 2 January 2017, SpaceX released an official statement indicating that the cause of the failure was a buckled liner in several of the COPV tanks, causing perforations that allowed liquid and/or solid oxygen to accumulate underneath the COPVs carbon strands, which were subsequently ignited possibly due to friction of breaking strands.

[611] Zuma was a classified United States government satellite and was developed and built by Northrop Grumman at an estimated cost of US$3.5 billion.

[614] SpaceX's COO Gwynne Shotwell stated that their Falcon 9 "did everything correctly" and that "Information published that is contrary to this statement is categorically false".

[614] A preliminary report indicated that the payload adapter, modified by Northrop Grumman after purchasing it from a subcontractor, failed to separate the satellite from the second stage under the zero gravity conditions.

The Dragon contained a mannequin named Ripley, which was equipped with multiple sensors to gather data about how a human would feel during the flight.

[621] The toy became a hit with astronaut Anne McClain, who showed the plushy on the ISS each day[622] and also deciding to keep it on board to experience the crewed SpX-DM2.

During the time, various systems were tested to make sure the vehicle was ready for US astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to fly in it in 2020.

[623] SpaceX held a successful launch of the first commercial orbital human space flight on 30 May 2020, crewed with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.