Falcon 9

Falcon 9 is a family of launch vehicles designed and manufactured by SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The family consists of the Falcon 9 v1.0, Falcon 9 v1.1, and the Falcon 9-R. Both stages of this two-stage-to-orbit vehicle are powered by rocket engines that burn liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants. The current Falcon 9 can lift payloads of 13,150 kilograms to low Earth orbit, and 4,850 kilograms to geostationary transfer orbit. All three Falcon 9 vehicles are situated in the medium-lift range of launch systems. The Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule combination won a Commercial Resupply Services contract from NASA in 2008 to resupply the International Space Station under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station launched in October 2012. The initial version 1.0 design made a total of five flights before it was retired in 2013. SpaceX is currently flying an improved and 60 percent heavier Falcon 9 launch vehicle—the Falcon 9 v1.1—which flew for the first time on a demonstration mission on the sixth overall launch of the Falcon 9 in September 2013.