Falcon 9 has completed 692 launches as of 2 October 2026, achieving 689 full mission successes for a 99.57 percent success rate. Annual flight volume expanded from 2 launches in 2010 to a record 165 in 2025, driven heavily by deployments for the Starlink satellite constellation. The vehicle family has logged 706 total flights when combined with Falcon Heavy missions.
Operated by SpaceX, the rocket architecture has flown in several variants, with the current Block 5 version accounting for the majority of all operations. Russia’s Soyuz is the only launch vehicle with more missions, and Falcon 9 is on track to pass it next year. Launch records tracked on Wikipedia’s Falcon statistics template provide the verified baseline for these annual figures.
Falcon 9 Launches by Calendar Year
Falcon 9 flight counts increased from 2 launches during 2010 to 165 launches in 2025 before adding 110 missions through 2 October 2026. The launch totals below reflect orbital lift attempts by calendar year, excluding ground testing accidents and sister vehicles.
| Year | Falcon 9 Launches |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | 3 |
| 2014 | 6 |
| 2015 | 7 |
| 2016 | 8 |
| 2017 | 18 |
| 2018 | 20 |
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 26 |
| 2021 | 31 |
| 2022 | 60 |
| 2023 | 91 |
| 2024 | 132 |
| 2025 | 165 |
| 2026 | 110 (through 2 October 2026) |
The zero launches recorded in 2011 represent an operational pause rather than missing records. Falcon 9 completed its second flight on 8 December 2010 for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Demo 1, while its third mission, COTS Demo 2, did not lift off until 22 May 2012. No Falcon 9 missions occurred during calendar year 2011.
The 2016 total of 8 launches excludes the AMOS-6 incident. That vehicle was destroyed on the launch pad during propellant loading ahead of a static fire test on 1 September 2016. Because the rocket never initiated a launch sequence, databases categorize it as a pre-flight loss instead of a launch attempt. Compilations that list 9 missions for 2016 include this pad explosion in their figures.
Why Published Launch Totals Disagree
Published counts for Falcon 9 missions frequently diverge because databases apply different counting rules to pre-flight accidents, vehicle families, and reporting cutoff dates. Comparing lists across outlets requires checking whether a source counts the booster core or the mission itself.
The first major source of variation involves the AMOS-6 test accident. Counting AMOS-6 brings the 2016 total to 9 and raises the cumulative mission losses to 3. Excluding AMOS-6 keeps the 2016 total at 8 launches because the vehicle never lifted off the pad. Both numbers describe the same event using different technical definitions of a launch.
The second discrepancy stems from whether an author tracks Falcon 9 alone or bundles the broader vehicle family. Adding Falcon Heavy flights increases the historical total from 692 to 706 missions through 2 October 2026. That includes 5 Falcon Heavy flights in 2023 and 2 in 2024. For operational overviews of how the vehicle operates, see our guide on how Falcon 9 works.
Cutoff dates also alter published numbers. The Wall Street Journal published a Falcon 9 launches-per-year chart on 21 September 2026, sourced to astronomer Jonathan McDowell, noting it excludes Falcon Heavy and early Grasshopper prototype launches and runs through 6 September 2026. That graphic recorded 103 flights for 2026 up to its early September cutoff, matching Wikipedia’s annual totals for every year except 2014. Wikipedia’s launch list and manifest data record 6 launches for 2014, and the 2014 flight manifest supports 6.
Mission Success and Failure History
Falcon 9 has logged 689 full successes, 1 partial failure, and 2 in-flight failures across 692 total launches through 2 October 2026. Dividing 689 full successes by 692 attempts yields a 99.57 percent full-success rate. Treating the single partial failure as a successful delivery yields 690 successes out of 692 launches, or a 99.71 percent success rate.
The current production vehicle, Falcon 9 Block 5, has completed 636 launches with 635 successes, achieving a 99.84 percent success rate. Earlier production blocks flew less frequently before their retirement:
- Falcon 9 v1.0 flew 5 times between June 2010 and March 2013.
- Falcon 9 v1.1 flew 15 times between September 2013 and January 2016.
- Full Thrust blocks 3 and 4 completed 36 missions between December 2015 and June 2018.
- Block 5 has served as the active operational variant since May 2018.
Four missions account for every non-nominal flight outcome in the vehicle’s history. On 8 October 2012, CRS-1 (v1.0) experienced a partial failure when the primary International Space Station (ISS) cargo delivery succeeded, but a secondary payload was stranded in a lower orbit than planned. On 28 June 2015, CRS-7 (v1.1) suffered an in-flight mission failure when the vehicle was destroyed in flight after a second-stage structural failure was caused by helium overpressure.
On 1 September 2016, AMOS-6 (Full Thrust) suffered a pre-flight loss when the rocket and payload were destroyed on the pad during propellant loading before a static fire test. Most recently, in July 2024, Starlink Group 9-3 (Block 5) experienced an in-flight mission failure due to a second-stage relight failure, which resulted in the loss of all 20 satellites.
Two near-miss incidents did not result in mission failures. In February 2025, a Starlink Group 11-4 upper stage failed its deorbit burn after a successful mission and reentered uncontrolled near Poznań, Poland, blamed on a liquid-oxygen leak. In March 2025, a first-stage booster was lost to fire and tip-over after a successful droneship landing.
Booster Landing Success Rates
First-stage booster recoveries form a distinct operational record from orbital payload delivery. A failed landing attempt does not prevent a customer payload from reaching its target orbit.
Falcon family boosters have landed successfully on 665 of 678 total recovery attempts across ground pads and autonomous spaceport droneships, excluding intentional ocean touchdown tests. Dividing 665 by 678 yields a derived landing success rate of 98.08 percent. This figure includes both Falcon 9 cores and Falcon Heavy side and center boosters.
The Block 5 configuration has completed 640 successful landings in 646 recovery attempts, generating a derived success rate of 99.07 percent. Block 5 has recorded 6 recovery failures to date. The first propulsive landing of an orbital-class booster occurred in December 2015, followed by the first successful droneship recovery during the CRS-8 mission on 8 April 2016. Understanding these recovery mechanics is detailed in our explainer on how reusable rockets work.
Booster Reflight and Hardware Reuse Records
Booster reuse has expanded from experimental trials into standard flight operations. Fifty-six individual Falcon boosters have flown more than one orbital mission as of October 2026, while 39 Block 5 boosters have supported Falcon 9 missions.
Booster B1067 holds the single-booster reuse record with 37 completed flights. SpaceX achieved its first operational reflight of an orbital-class booster in March 2017 on the SES-10 mission using booster B1021, which had first flown on CRS-8 in April 2016.
Payload fairings have accumulated comparable flight totals. A fairing half designated SN168 has flown 40 times, making it the most-reflown rocket stage to space ever. Another fairing half, SN155, has reached orbit 39 times. SpaceX has reflown recovered fairing halves more than 300 times across its flight manifest.
Turnaround Intervals for Boosters and Pads
Rapid refurbishment schedules have supported the expansion of annual launch cadences. The fastest turnaround of an individual booster stands at 9 days, achieved by booster B1088 ahead of the National Reconnaissance Office Launch (NROL) mission NROL-57 on 21 March 2025. That turnaround improved upon the previous record of 13.5 days.
Pad reset times have dropped concurrently. According to Spaceflight Now reporting, the fastest launch-pad turnaround occurred at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral, reaching 2 days, 2 hours, 44 minutes and 55 seconds between NROL-77 and Starlink 6-90 on 11 December 2025. That mark eclipsed an earlier interval of 2 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes and 10 seconds set in October 2025. Launch site operations and facilities are examined further in our overview of SpaceX launch sites.
Drivers Behind the Annual Flight Expansion
Internal deployment of the Starlink broadband network serves as the primary driver behind Falcon 9 flight volume. More than 300 Falcon launches since 2023 have deployed Starlink hardware, expanding the constellation beyond 11,000 operational satellites in orbit. In 2025, Starlink missions accounted for 122 of the 165 total Falcon 9 flights.
This satellite deployment cadence lifted total payload mass delivered by SpaceX to roughly 1,200 tonnes in 2023 and approximately 2,400 tonnes in 2025. For perspective on individual payload configurations:
- The heaviest Falcon payload reached approximately 17,500 kg, consisting of 24 Starlink V2-Mini satellites first flown in February 2024.
- The heaviest payload sent toward a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) was Jupiter-3 at 9,200 kg on 29 July 2023.
- Commercial launch economics associated with these flights are analyzed in our breakdown of Falcon 9 launch costs.
Annual records illustrate the steep flight trajectory. In 2022, Falcon 9 established a new record with 60 successful launches by the same launch vehicle type in a calendar year, surpassing the Soyuz-U record of 47 missions set in 1979. In 2023, the Falcon vehicle family completed 96 successful launches (91 Falcon 9 and 5 Falcon Heavy flights), passing the R-7 family mark of 63 missions set in 1980.
During 2024, SpaceX conducted 134 total Falcon missions (132 Falcon 9 and 2 Falcon Heavy flights) with 133 successful outcomes. Those 134 flights represented more than half of all orbital launches conducted worldwide that year. For details on constellation structure, consult our guide to how Starlink works.
Falcon 9 Flight Activity Ahead
Future annual flight numbers for Falcon 9 depend on the operational certification of Starship rather than an official retirement schedule. SpaceX has not announced a firm retirement date for the vehicle.
Elon Musk stated on X on 22 August 2026: “Once Starship is flying reliably several times per week, it makes sense to shift super scarce SpaceX engineering and production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day, which means winding down Falcon.” This transition is an operational condition linked to flight frequency, not a fixed calendar date. Commercial reporting indicates that SpaceX has stopped selling shared Falcon 9 rideshare missions and is not taking customer bookings beyond late 2028.
Progress toward that condition involves testing the replacement vehicle. Starship reached orbit for the first time on 28 September 2026 (Flight 14), deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Across 14 integrated flight tests conducted since April 2023, Starship has achieved 9 successes and 5 failures. Reaching multiple flights per week remains an extensive operational process when measured against Falcon 9’s 165 flights in 2025 alone.
The 165 flights logged in 2025 may represent the peak annual output for the architecture if launch activity shifts toward newer vehicles. To review operational timelines and transition constraints, read our analysis of the Falcon 9 retirement or check what Starship is to evaluate how next-generation hardware may alter the yearly launch rate.