SpaceX plans to phase out Falcon 9 program after Starship begins regular flights
SpaceX plans to gradually retire Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets after the Starship system begins conducting regular reliable flights. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk wrote about this on August 22 on the social network X, Space.com reports.
According to Musk, once Starship achieves a cadence of reliable launches several times a week, it will make sense for SpaceX to redirect manufacturing resources to this system. The company aims to increase the Starship launch rate to several times a day.
The future of Falcon 9
Falcon 9 first launched in 2010 and has since completed nearly 700 launches. It is the first orbital rocket whose first stage was successfully landed and reused. Only Russia’s Soyuz rocket, which has been in operation since 1957, has completed more missions, but Falcon 9 could surpass it as early as next year, according to the publication.
Industry reports indicate that SpaceX may end nearly all commercial Falcon 9 launches starting in 2028. Among the few missions that may remain are Crew Dragon and cargo Dragon flights for NASA to the International Space Station, which is expected to operate until at least 2030.
Starship is not yet designed to dock with the ISS. Its size creates engineering risks that exceed the station’s safety margins, so NASA may continue purchasing Dragon flights to deliver crews and cargo.
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Betting on a heavier rocket
Starship consists of the Super Heavy booster and the Ship upper stage; both components are designed to return to Earth and be reused. The upper stages of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are expendable.
The current Starship V3 version is 124.4 meters tall, compared with approximately 70 meters for Falcon 9. Starship is expected to be able to deliver more than 100 tonnes of cargo to low Earth orbit, while Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy have capacities of about 25 and 63 tonnes, respectively.
Deploying new Starlink satellites is expected to become an important mission for Starship. They are larger than previous versions and designed for Starship’s cargo bay. Since 2023, SpaceX has conducted more than 300 launches for the Starlink network, and its total number of satellites has exceeded 11,000.
The timeline for winding down the Falcon program will depend on Starship testing. The system has already completed 13 suborbital test flights, and the next launch could be the first attempt to fully reach orbit.
