Falcon Heavy

Falcon Heavy
Falcon heavy at launchpad
Basic Information
Type	Partially reusable launch vehicle
Status	Active
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Cost per launch	~97 million with all recover-able parts being recovered. 130-170 millon with side boosters landed 170-300 millon fully expended
Size
Height	70 m
Width	3.4m per core
Mass	1,420,000 kg
Stages	2 stages and 2 boosters
Total engine amount	28 Merlin 1D, one of them is Vacuum
Capacity
Payload to:	LEO: 63,800 kg (140,700 lb) when fully expended 57,000 kg (126,000 lb) with boosters recovered <50,000 kg (110,000 lb) with boosters and core recovered GTO: 26,700 kg (58,900 lb) Mars: 16,800 kg (37,000 lb) Pluto: 3,500 kg (7,700 lb)
Launch History
Total	11
Success(es)	11
Failure(s)	0
Partial Failure(s)	0
Landings	16/16 (Boosters) 1/3 (Core)
First Flight	6 February 2018 20:45
Last flight	14 October 2024 16:06
Payload(s)	Several payloads, mainly a car and military spaceplanes
SpaceX rockets
See also	Dragon XL, Red Dragon

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The Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy lift launch vehicle developed, built and launched by SpaceX. It is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 Rockets, although normally, only two of them are reused (It was expanded two times and fully landed only a single time). As of January 29, 2025, there have been 11 successful Falcon Heavy launches with no failures. The Falcon Heavy rocket can lift 63,800 kg / 140,660 lbs to low orbit (LEO); 26,700 kg / 58,860 lbs to Geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and; 16,800 kg / 37,040 lbs to Mars (in a expendable configuration). Elon Musk has also mentioned the possibility of a "Falcon Super Heavy", a Falcon Heavy with two additional Falcon 9 cores attached to the central booster. This would create a rocket with over 9 million pounds of thrust, exceeding that of even the Saturn V.

History

SpaceX needed a launch vehicle that had more thrust, so in 2018, they started testing a Falcon 9 with 3 cores. Not much later, SpaceX did a test flight, delivering a Tesla Roadster to heliocentric orbit, and landing 2 of it's 3 boosters due to a failure of the core stage during the landing burn.

Later, the Falcon Heavy launched Abrasat-6A, delivering the payload successfully, and landing all stages for the first and only time yet, however, the core stage was lost while being transported back to the launch site.

After that, SpaceX did another attempt of recovering the core, which ended in a successful mission, but with the core stage crashing into the ocean due to damage during reentry. After that, SpaceX didn't attempt to recover the core stage again, recovering the side boosters only. After all, companies are willing to pay more prize to expend the core, and use the Falcon Heavy in a way it doesn't have enough fuel to land the core stage, some of them exppending all boosters.

The Falcon Heavy has made 11 launches, all of them being successful, and is still in service. Around 2030, it will likely be replaced by the Starship.

Launches

If you viewing this article on a small screen, please scroll down to see the table of launches.

Missions

#	Date	Mission	Mission Outcome	Core landing	Boosters landing	Remarks
1	6 February 2018 20:45	Falcon Heavy Flight Test	Success	Failure	Success	The first flight of the vehicle, the Falcon Heavy sucessfully delivered a Tesla Roadster with a manequin called "Starman" to Heliocentric orbit. 2 of the 3 boosters landed.
2	11 April 2019 22:35	Abrasat-6A	Success	Success	Success	The first and only time all boosters were landed successfully, the payload was delievered sucessfully. Sadly, the core was lost during transport.
3	25 June 2019 06:30	USAF STP-2	Success	Failure	Success	The first launch for the military of a Falcon Heavy, the mision wa a success, but the core was damaged during reentry and crashed into the Ocean.
4	1 November 2022 13:41	USSF-44	Success	No attempt	Success	The payload was classified, it launched two separate satelites to geousyncronus orbit and then the side boosters returned to earth and landed. This was the first time the core was intentionally expended.
5	15 January 2023 22:56	USSF-67	Success	No attempt	Success	Second United States Space Force launch, the center core expended, the side boosters landed, and the payload reached its intended orbit.
6	1 May 2023 00:26	ViaSat-3/Aurora 4A (Arcturus)/GS-1	Success	No attempt	No attempt	The rocket delivered three payloads to a near geosyncronus orbit, all three cores were expended for the first time
7	29 July 2023 03:04	Jupiter-3 (EchoStar-24)	Success	No attempt	Success	The rocket delivered the satellite to GTO, the center core expended, the side boosters and the fairings were recovered.
8	13 October 2023 14:19	Psyche	Success	No attempt	Success	Falcon Heavy launched the 2.6 t (5,700 lb) Psyche orbiter mission into a heliocentric orbit. From there, the Psyche spacecraft will visit the Psyche asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Core expended, two boosters recovered to land.
9	29 December 2023 01:07	USSF-52 (Boeing X-37B OTV-7)	Success	No attempt	Success	It delivered a X-37B spaceplane into a highly elliptical HEO, it included some NASA experiments with it. Core expended, two booster recovered and landed.
10	25 June 2024 21:26	GOES-19	Success	No attempt	Success	It delivered a weather satellite to GTO, core expended and side boosters were recovered.
11	14 October 2024 16:06	Europa Clipper	Success	No attempt	No attempt	It delivered the Europa Clipper probe to a mars trajectory, then the probe will use Mars as a gravity assistant, then Earth until arriving to Jupiter to make experiments and study its moon Europa, both the side boosters and the center core expended to achieve all of its performance to the heliocentric orbit.

Source: (Wikipedia)