# List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches (2010–2019)
The decade from June 2010 through the end of 2019 covers roughly 88 flights of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and the first three flights of its [Falcon Heavy](https://www.edgepedia.org/falcon-heavy) derivative, a period in which the vehicle went from an unproven test article to the workhorse of the American launch industry. The first [Falcon 9](https://www.edgepedia.org/falcon-9) lifted off on June 4, 2010, from Space Launch Complex 40 at [Cape Canaveral](https://www.edgepedia.org/cape-canaveral), carrying an unpowered Dragon capsule mock-up on a demonstration flight.[1](https://www.spaceline.org/cape-canaveral-launch-chronology/launches-2010-to-2019/) By the end of 2019 the rocket family had accumulated 85 outright successes against one in-flight loss, one partial failure, and one pad destruction, a combined success rate of 97.8 percent when the three Falcon Heavy missions are included.[2](https://www.americaspace.com/2020/06/05/ten-years-of-history-making-the-remarkable-decade-of-the-falcon-9/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First launch | June 4, 2010, from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, carrying an unpowered Dragon capsule mock-up[1](https://www.spaceline.org/cape-canaveral-launch-chronology/launches-2010-to-2019/) |
| Record through the end of 2019 | 85 outright Falcon 9 successes, one in-flight loss (CRS-7, June 2015), one partial failure (October 2012), one pad loss (AMOS-6, September 2016); 97.8 percent success including three Falcon Heavy flights[2](https://www.americaspace.com/2020/06/05/ten-years-of-history-making-the-remarkable-decade-of-the-falcon-9/) |
| Annual cadence | 18 launches in 2017, 21 in 2018, and 13 in 2019 (11 Falcon 9 and 2 Falcon Heavy), all successful[3](https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/12/20/spacex-poised-to-accelerate-launch-cadence-with-series-of-starlink-missions/) |
| Vehicle | Two-stage rocket, 207.8 feet (63.3 m) tall with Dragon, 12 feet in diameter; nine Merlin first-stage engines producing 1.3 million pounds of thrust at sea level[4](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/spacex_nasa_crs-5_presskit-105.pdf) |
| First booster landing | December 2015; by early 2018 SpaceX had reflown a first stage five times[5](https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2018_ast_compendium.pdf) |
| Falcon Heavy debut | February 6, 2018, from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, carrying a Tesla Roadster into solar orbit[6](https://www.nasa.gov/history/5-years-ago-first-flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket/) |
| End-of-decade streak | 52 consecutive successful missions since the September 2016 pad explosion[3](https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/12/20/spacex-poised-to-accelerate-launch-cadence-with-series-of-starlink-missions/) |
## The launch vehicle and its variants
Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed by SpaceX for the transport of satellites and the company's Dragon spacecraft. With Dragon attached, the Falcon 9 measures 207.8 feet (63.3 meters) in height with a 12-foot diameter, and the nine Merlin engines powering its first stage produce 1.3 million pounds of thrust at sea level, increasing to 1.5 million pounds in vacuum.[4](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/spacex_nasa_crs-5_presskit-105.pdf) The Falcon Heavy variant straps two additional first-stage boosters to the sides of a standard core, so that 27 Merlin engines fire together at liftoff, producing more than 5 million pounds of thrust and the ability to place 141,000 pounds into a low inclination Earth orbit or send 37,000 pounds to Mars.[6](https://www.nasa.gov/history/5-years-ago-first-flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket/)
The vehicle evolved through several versions during the decade. From 2018 onward, SpaceX flew only the Block 5 model, which the company stated would need no major refurbishment for roughly its first ten flights and could potentially fly up to 100 times before retirement.[7](https://www.axios.com/2018/07/21/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launch-elon-musk) Launches during the decade came from three pads: Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (leased from NASA under a 20-year property agreement signed in 2014), and Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.[8](https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/falcon-heavy-a-multi-user-spaceport-success-story/) • [9](https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/SpaceX_Falcon_Program)
## Mission profile
The decade's flights fell into several categories. NASA cargo resupply missions to the [International Space Station](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-space-station) began with SpaceX CRS-1, launched October 7, 2012, the first of 12 contracted flights under the [Commercial Resupply Services](https://www.edgepedia.org/commercial-resupply-services) contract.[10](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-coverage-set-for-oct-7-spacex-launch-to-space-station/) Commercial communications satellites for customers such as [Arabsat](https://www.edgepedia.org/arabsat), SES, Thaicom, and Iridium formed another large block, and national security missions began appearing, including the first GPS III satellite for the U.S. Air Force in December 2018.[11](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/documents/2020-01_ANN2.pdf) Science missions included NASA's TESS exoplanet hunter in April 2018 and the DSCOVR space weather observatory in February 2015.[11](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/documents/2020-01_ANN2.pdf)
**Human spaceflight preparation** closed the decade. On March 2, 2019, a Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon Demo-1 from Launch Complex 39A, the first uncrewed flight test of the system NASA's Commercial Crew Program had contracted to carry astronauts.[11](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/documents/2020-01_ANN2.pdf) • [12](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-spacex-launch-first-flight-test-of-space-system-designed-for-crew)
## Failures and anomalies
Three events stand out in the decade's record. On October 8, 2012, the CRS-1 mission experienced a failure in one of its nine first-stage Merlin engines about 79 seconds into launch; the engine shut down automatically and the Dragon capsule stayed on course to the space station, but the secondary payload, a prototype ORBCOMM OG2 satellite, deployed at a lower than expected altitude and could not reach its operational orbit. NASA also canceled a planned second burn of the second stage that would have been needed to place the satellite correctly, because the available propellant fell just below the agency's acceptable risk criteria.[13](https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-13-016.pdf) The prototype Orbcomm spacecraft re-entered and burned up, and Orbcomm claimed the mission a total loss.[14](https://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/004/121011orbcomm/)
**CRS-7** was the decade's only in-flight loss. On June 28, 2015, about two and a half minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 and its Dragon cargo vehicle broke apart over the Atlantic. SpaceX's investigation traced the failure to a support strut in the second-stage liquid oxygen tank: the strut was certified to handle 10,000 pounds of force but failed at 2,000, breaching the helium pressurization system.[15](https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2015/07/21/spacex-details-preliminary-investigation-findings/)
**AMOS-6** was destroyed on the ground. On September 1, 2016, during a standard pre-launch static fire test at Space Launch Complex 40, the vehicle and its payload were lost in an anomaly; the Israeli communications satellite was valued at about 200 million dollars (189 million euros).[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2017/01/14/spacex-reprend-avec-succes-les-lancements-de-sa-fusee-falcon-9_6003331_4408996.html) Because the loss occurred during fueling before a test firing, not in flight, it is counted separately from the launch record.[2](https://www.americaspace.com/2020/06/05/ten-years-of-history-making-the-remarkable-decade-of-the-falcon-9/) The return to flight came on January 14, 2017, with the first [Iridium NEXT](https://www.edgepedia.org/iridium-next) launch.[17](https://wipi.ai.kr/en/List%20of%20Falcon%209%20and%20Falcon%20Heavy%20launches%20%282010%E2%80%932019%29)
## Reusability milestones
The defining development of the decade was first-stage recovery and reflight. SpaceX achieved its first successful booster landing in December 2015, and by early 2018 had reflown a first stage five times.[5](https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2018_ast_compendium.pdf) The company describes 2017 as the year it pioneered reusability with the first re-flight of an orbital-class rocket; the SES-10 mission of March 30, 2017, flew on a previously flown booster.[18](https://www.spacex.com/assets/media/falcon-users-guide-2025-05-09.pdf) • [11](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/documents/2020-01_ANN2.pdf)
Reuse scaled quickly. On December 3, 2018, a Falcon 9 launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying a record 64 satellites from 34 organizations on the Spaceflight SSO-A rideshare; the booster was being flown for a third time, a company first, and it landed again on a droneship in the Pacific afterward.[19](https://www.axios.com/2018/12/03/spacex-reuses-falcon-9-rocket-record-64-satellites) SpaceX also began re-flying payload fairings in late 2019.[18](https://www.spacex.com/assets/media/falcon-users-guide-2025-05-09.pdf)
## Falcon Heavy flights
The Falcon Heavy made its demonstration flight on February 6, 2018, from Launch Complex 39A at [Kennedy Space Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/kennedy-space-center). Its only payload was a [Tesla Roadster](https://www.edgepedia.org/tesla-roadster) carrying a mannequin named Starman, attached to the second stage and placed into a [heliocentric orbit](https://www.edgepedia.org/heliocentric-orbit) stretching past that of Mars. The two side boosters returned for parallel landings at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral, but the center core was lost when two of its engines failed to ignite for the landing burn on the droneship.[6](https://www.nasa.gov/history/5-years-ago-first-flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket/)
Two more Falcon Heavy flights followed in 2019. The second, on April 11, 2019, placed the Arabsat-6A communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.[6](https://www.nasa.gov/history/5-years-ago-first-flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket/) The third, on June 25, 2019, carried the Department of Defense's Space Test Program-2 mission with 24 satellites for the Air Force, NASA, NOAA, and universities, the first time the Air Force flew payloads on a Falcon Heavy. Both side boosters had flown on the earlier Arabsat mission and landed again on land, while the core booster missed its waiting droneship in the Atlantic.[20](https://www.axios.com/2019/06/25/spacex-falcon-heavy-air-force-launch) • [21](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-technology-missions-launch-on-spacex-falcon-heavy/)
## Cadence by the numbers
Launch rate grew steadily across the decade. SpaceX performed 18 launches in 2017, 21 in 2018, and 13 in 2019, of which 11 used the single-core Falcon 9 and two used the Falcon Heavy; all 13 missions in 2019 were successful, extending a streak of 52 consecutive successes since the September 2016 pad loss.[3](https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/12/20/spacex-poised-to-accelerate-launch-cadence-with-series-of-starlink-missions/) The 2019 total included the first Starlink missions, the broadband satellite constellation that would come to dominate the manifest in the following decade.[3](https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/12/20/spacex-poised-to-accelerate-launch-cadence-with-series-of-starlink-missions/) Counting the three Falcon Heavy flights, the family closed the decade with a 97.8 percent mission success rate.[2](https://www.americaspace.com/2020/06/05/ten-years-of-history-making-the-remarkable-decade-of-the-falcon-9/)
## References
1. [Launches 2010 to 2019, Cape Canaveral Launch Chronology, Spaceline](https://www.spaceline.org/cape-canaveral-launch-chronology/launches-2010-to-2019/)
2. [Ten Years of History-Making: The Remarkable Decade of the Falcon 9, AmericaSpace](https://www.americaspace.com/2020/06/05/ten-years-of-history-making-the-remarkable-decade-of-the-falcon-9/)
3. [SpaceX poised to accelerate launch cadence with series of Starlink missions, Spaceflight Now](https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/12/20/spacex-poised-to-accelerate-launch-cadence-with-series-of-starlink-missions/)
4. [SpaceX NASA CRS-5 Press Kit, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/spacex_nasa_crs-5_presskit-105.pdf)
5. [Launch Vehicle Fact Sheet, FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, 2018 Compendium](https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2018_ast_compendium.pdf)
6. [5 Years Ago: First Flight of the Falcon Heavy Rocket, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/history/5-years-ago-first-flight-of-the-falcon-heavy-rocket/)
7. [SpaceX to exclusively fly reusable rocket, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2018/07/21/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launch-elon-musk)
8. [Falcon Heavy: A Multi-User Spaceport Success Story, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/falcon-heavy-a-multi-user-spaceport-success-story/)
9. [SpaceX Falcon Program, Federal Aviation Administration](https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/SpaceX_Falcon_Program)
10. [NASA Coverage Set for Oct. 7 SpaceX Launch to Space Station, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-coverage-set-for-oct-7-spacex-launch-to-space-station/)
11. [Appendix 2, Falcon 9 Track Record, Belgian Federal Science Policy Office](https://www.belspo.be/belspo/space/documents/2020-01_ANN2.pdf)
12. [NASA, SpaceX Launch First Flight Test of Space System Designed for Crew, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-spacex-launch-first-flight-test-of-space-system-designed-for-crew)
13. [NASA's Management of Commercial Orbital Transportation Services and ISS Commercial Resupply Contracts, NASA Office of Inspector General, IG-13-016](https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-13-016.pdf)
14. [Orbcomm craft falls to Earth, company claims total loss, Spaceflight Now](https://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/004/121011orbcomm/)
15. [SpaceX Details Preliminary Investigation Findings, NASA Blogs](https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2015/07/21/spacex-details-preliminary-investigation-findings/)
16. [SpaceX reprend avec succès les lancements de sa fusée Falcon 9, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2017/01/14/spacex-reprend-avec-succes-les-lancements-de-sa-fusee-falcon-9_6003331_4408996.html)
17. [List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches (2010–2019), WIPIVERSE](https://wipi.ai.kr/en/List%20of%20Falcon%209%20and%20Falcon%20Heavy%20launches%20%282010%E2%80%932019%29)
18. [Falcon Payload User's Guide, SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/assets/media/falcon-users-guide-2025-05-09.pdf)
19. [SpaceX reuses Falcon 9 rocket booster to launch record 64 satellites, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2018/12/03/spacex-reuses-falcon-9-rocket-record-64-satellites)
20. [SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket launches 24 satellites to orbit, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2019/06/25/spacex-falcon-heavy-air-force-launch)
21. [NASA Technology Missions Launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-technology-missions-launch-on-spacex-falcon-heavy/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Transport and spaceflight › Spaceflight › Launch systems and rocketry › Launch vehicles › Launch lists and comparisons › Spacecraft by launcher lists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license