Falcon 9 maiden flight

Falcon 9 first flew on 4 June 2010 from Cape Canaveral, carrying a boilerplate Dragon capsule to validate the new vehicle. Where Falcon 1 was a proof of concept, Falcon 9 was the workhorse — nine Merlin engines on the first stage, designed from the outset with reusability in mind.

Over the following years Falcon 9 would be relentlessly iterated, culminating in the Block 5 version built for rapid, repeated reuse. It went on to become the most-flown orbital rocket in history and one of the most reliable ever built, with a success rate above 99% across hundreds of flights.

By driving the cost per kilogram to orbit down dramatically and flying at a cadence no nation or company had ever matched, Falcon 9 didn't just serve the market — it remade it, enabling everything from Starlink to the resurgence of American human spaceflight.