From June 2010 to the end of 2019, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was launched 77 times, with 75 full mission successes, one partial failure (CRS-1), and one total loss of the spacecraft (CRS-7). In addition, one rocket and its payload (AMOS-6) were destroyed on the launch pad during fueling before a static fire test. The Falcon Heavy was launched three times during this period, all successful.
Rocket Configurations (2010–2019):
- Falcon 9 v1.0 — Launched 5 times from June 2010 to March 2013
- Falcon 9 v1.1 — Launched 15 times from September 2013 to January 2016
- Falcon 9 Full Thrust (through Block 4) — Launched 36 times from December 2015 to June 2018
- Falcon 9 Block 5 — Introduced in May 2018, launched 21 times before the end of 2019
- Falcon Heavy — Launched 3 times (February 2018, April 2019, June 2019)
Launch Sites:
- Cape Canaveral, SLC-40
- Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
- Vandenberg, SLC-4E
Key Milestones:
- 4 June 2010 (Flight 1): First Falcon 9 launch, carrying a boilerplate Dragon capsule.
- 8 December 2010 (Flight 2): COTS Demo Flight 1, first operational Dragon capsule to orbit and return.
- 22 May 2012 (Flight 3): COTS Demo Flight 2, first commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station.
- 8 October 2012 (Flight 4): First operational CRS mission; one engine failed during ascent but the mission succeeded, demonstrating engine-out capability.
- 29 September 2013 (Flight 6): First flight of Falcon 9 v1.1; first controlled reentry and ocean touchdown test of a first stage.
- 3 December 2013 (Flight 7): First geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) launch.
- 18 April 2014 (Flight 9): First successful controlled ocean touchdown of a first stage.
- 10 January 2015 (Flight 14): First attempt to land on an autonomous spaceport drone ship (failed).
- 28 June 2015 (Flight 19): CRS-7 mission failure — second stage disintegrated due to a helium tank failure, resulting in loss of the Dragon capsule.
- 22 December 2015 (Flight 20): First flight of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust version; first successful landing of an orbital rocket first stage on land (LZ-1).
- 8 April 2016 (Flight 23): First successful landing of a first stage on a drone ship at sea (OCISLY).
- 1 September 2016: AMOS-6 payload and rocket destroyed in a pad explosion during fueling.
- 14 January 2017 (Flight 29): Return to flight after AMOS-6 loss; first Iridium NEXT launch.
- 30 March 2017 (Flight 32): First reuse of a previously flown first-stage booster (B1021, previously flown on CRS-8), launching SES-10.
- 6 February 2018 (FH 1): Maiden flight of Falcon Heavy, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster to a heliocentric orbit. Side boosters landed successfully; center core failed to land.
- 11 May 2018 (Flight 54): First flight of Falcon 9 Block 5 (Bangabandhu-1).
- 2 March 2019 (Flight 69): Crew Dragon Demo-1, first uncrewed orbital flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
- 11 April 2019 (FH 2): First commercial Falcon Heavy flight (Arabsat-6A); all three boosters initially landed successfully, but the center core was lost at sea during transport.
- 25 June 2019 (FH 3): STP-2 mission for the U.S. Air Force; side boosters landed successfully; center core failed landing.
- 11 November 2019 (Flight 75): First operational Starlink mission (v1.0 satellites); first time a booster flew a fourth time.
Notable Failures:
- CRS-1 (Flight 4): Partial failure — secondary payload (Orbcomm-2) was deployed into a lower-than-planned orbit and subsequently lost due to an engine shutdown and NASA restrictions on second-stage reignition.
- CRS-7 (Flight 19): Total loss of vehicle and payload due to a failed strut in the second-stage helium pressurization system.
- AMOS-6 (pre-flight): Rocket and payload destroyed during propellant loading for a static fire test on 1 September 2016, caused by a buckled liner in composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs).
