The goal of SpaceX is to land the first humans on Mars by 2024
Mars is at its closest 55 million miles away
So to get there SpaceX needs to make better rockets than humans have ever made before
This is the evolution of SpaceX rockets
The first rocket SpaceX ever made was the Falcon 1
Named after the Millennium Falcon of Star Wars
This 21 meter tall rocket had to prove SpaceX could develop a rocket to orbit around the Earth
And everything went just as planned
Well not exactly...
After 3 failures the Falcon 1 finally succeeded
In total there were 5 launches
The cost per launch was 6.7 million dollars
After that came the first version of the Falcon 9
The Falcon 9 was 48 meters tall
The rocket was also a lot stronger, with over 10x more thrust power in the first stage
In total there were 5 launches
The cost was between 54 and 60 million dollars per launch
In 2013 came version 1.1
This rocket was 68 meters tall
The rocket’s mass also increased a lot, due to 60% longer fuel tanks
The payload capability to Low Earth Orbit rose from 10,500 kilograms to 13,200 kilograms
The Falcon 9 version 1.1 was launched 15 times
The cost per launch was between 57 and 61 million dollars
In 2015 a better version of the Falcon 9 came, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust
The rocket is 71 meters tall and made history in the space industry
The first ever reusable rocket was made by SpaceX
This considerably reduces the cost of launching a rocket
SpaceX kept improving the Falcon 9 Full Thrust with different versions from Block 1 to Block 5
Block 5 could carry up to 22,800 kilograms to the Low Earth Orbit
And could also reach Mars with a payload of 4,000 kilograms
The first and second stage engines were improved and have much more thrust
The Falcon 9 Full Thrust was launched 60 times
The cost per launch was 62 million dollars in 2016
But eventually SpaceX reduced the cost to 50 million dollars in 2018
Next was the Falcon Heavy in 2018
The height of the rocket stayed the same, but two additional first stage side boosters were added
This almost doubled the total thrust for the first stage
The Falcon heavy can carry up to 63,800 kilograms to Low Earth Orbit or 16,800 kilograms to Mars
The first Falcon Heavy carried a Tesla Roadster that is still floating in space
And the second launch returned all three boosters successfully to Earth
Although the Falcon Heavy could easily carry humans to space, SpaceX decided it will not
In total there were 3 launches
The cost per launch was 150 million dollars or 90 million for a reusable rocket
SpaceX is currently developing an even bigger and better rocket: the Starship
Also known as the Big F***** Rocket and for a good reason
The rocket stands 118 meters tall!
It is estimated that the Starship can carry a payload of 100,000 kilograms to Low Earth Orbit
Making it by far the most powerful rocket that has ever been built
The Starship will be a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars
SpaceX has an ambitious mission for Starship to build a sustainable Mars colony before the year 2050
The first Starship is planned to be launched as early as March 2020
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