Function | Small-lift launch vehicle |
---|---|
Manufacturer | SpaceX |
Country of origin | United States |
Project cost | US$90 million |
Cost per launch | US$7 million |
Size | |
Height | 21 m (68 ft 11 in) |
Diameter | 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Mass | 28,000 kg (62,000 lb) |
Stages | 2 |
Capacity | |
Payload to LEO | |
Orbital inclination | 9.0 - 9.35° |
Mass | |
Payload to SSO | |
Mass | 200 kg (440 lb)[3] |
Associated rockets | |
Derivative work | Falcon 9 v1.0 |
Launch history | |
Status | Retired[4] |
Launch sites | Omelek Island |
Total launches | 5 |
Success(es) | 2 |
Failure(s) | 3 |
First flight | 24 March 2006, 22:30 UTC |
Last flight | 14 July 2009, 03:35 UTC |
First stage | |
Powered by | 1 × Merlin 1A (first 2 flights) 1 × Merlin 1C (final 3 flights) |
Maximum thrust | 450 kN (100,000 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 255 s (2.50 km/s) at sea level |
Burn time | 169 s |
Propellant | RP-1 / LOX |
Second stage | |
Powered by | 1 × Kestrel |
Maximum thrust | 31 kN (7,000 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 327 s (3.21 km/s) |
Burn time | 378 s |
Propellant | RP-1 / LOX |
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Falcon 1 was a two-stage small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009[5] by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to successfully reach orbit.[6]: 203 [7]
The Falcon 1 used LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first stage powered by a single pump-fed Merlin engine, and the second stage powered by SpaceX's pressure-fed Kestrel vacuum engine.
The vehicle was launched a total of five times. After three failed launch attempts, Falcon 1 achieved orbit on its fourth attempt in September 2008 with a mass simulator as a payload. On 14 July 2009, Falcon 1 made its second successful flight, delivering the Malaysian RazakSAT satellite to orbit on SpaceX's first commercial launch (fifth and final launch overall).
While SpaceX had announced an enhanced variant, the Falcon 1e,[4] following this flight, the Falcon 1 was retired in favor of the Falcon 9 v1.0, the first version of the company’s successful and long-running Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
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SpaceX is not the first private company to try to break through the commercial space launch market. The company, however, appears to be the real thing. Privately funded, it had a vehicle before it got money from NASA, and while NASA's space station resupply funds are a tremendous boost, SpaceX would have existed without it.