Spacex Falcon 9

Falcon 9 is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle using RP-1/LOX propellants across both stages. The first stage carries nine Merlin 1D engines; the second stage uses a single Merlin 1D Vacuum engine. The vehicle stands 70 m tall with a 5.2 m diameter fairing.^[1] Payload capacity to LEO is 22,800 kg expended or 18,500 kg reusable.^[1] Payload capacity to GTO is listed at 8,300 kg expended^[2] or 5,500 kg in a reusable configuration;^[1] the difference reflects expendable versus reusable booster configuration. The first stage is designed for powered-descent recovery and reuse.^[1] First flight was 2010-06-04; the Block 5 variant entered service on 2018-05-11.^[2] The vehicle is currently active.^[1] EO missions carried include SWOT (2022, water surface topography), Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (2020), and a quarterly SSO rideshare programme serving small-satellite EO constellations from 2021 onward.^[3]