SpaceX Falcon 9
The everyday workhorse. 70 m tall, skinny (3.7 m wide). Nine engines, about 1.7 million lb of push. Puts ~23 tons into that near Earth parking orbit. Lands its first stage & flies it again.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy Three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together. Same height, much wider at the base. Twenty-seven engines, 5.1 million lb of push. Puts ~64 tons into LEO if you don’t reuse everything. The two side boosters usually come home.
SpaceX Starship The giant. 124 m tall, 9 m wide. Thirty-three methane engines on the booster, roughly 17–18 million lb of push. Designed to put 100+ tons into LEO & bring both stages back. Today 9/28 it flew its first orbital mission with first operational satellites.
LEO = Low Earth Orbit
That’s the “parking lot” just above Earth, about 160–2,000 km up. Most satellites & the space station live there. “Tons to LEO” is the standard way to say how much cargo a rocket can haul into that near Earth orbit.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy Three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together. Same height, much wider at the base. Twenty-seven engines, 5.1 million lb of push. Puts ~64 tons into LEO if you don’t reuse everything. The two side boosters usually come home.
SpaceX Starship The giant. 124 m tall, 9 m wide. Thirty-three methane engines on the booster, roughly 17–18 million lb of push. Designed to put 100+ tons into LEO & bring both stages back. Today 9/28 it flew its first orbital mission with first operational satellites.
LEO = Low Earth Orbit
That’s the “parking lot” just above Earth, about 160–2,000 km up. Most satellites & the space station live there. “Tons to LEO” is the standard way to say how much cargo a rocket can haul into that near Earth orbit.
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