Goodbye, Falcon 9: SpaceX planning to retire workhorse launcher when Starship is up and running

SpaceX has decided to retire its workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9, once its larger next-generation spacecraft, Starship, is proven to be reliable for regular flights. The Falcon 9 first took to the skies in 2010 and has since completed nearly 700 launches, including the first orbital rocket to land and refly its first-stage booster.

Russia's Soyuz rocket, in operation since 1957, holds the record for the most missions, but the Falcon 9 is set to overtake it next year. However, the end of the Falcon 9 era is inevitable, according to SpaceX's Elon Musk, who stated that once Starship is operating reliably multiple times per week, resources should be shifted towards Starship to increase launch frequency to several times per day.

The exact timeline for the Falcon 9's retirement depends on the continued development of Starship. Once Starship becomes fully reusable, able to return both its Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage to Earth for recovery and reflight, it will be capable of delivering over 100 tons to low Earth orbit, compared to the Falcon 9's 25 tons and 63 tons, respectively.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet network, which has been the primary user of the Falcon 9 over the past few years, will transition to the more extensive Starship once it begins regular operations.

Starship's development is crucial for SpaceX's plans, as it will be used for lunar landing vehicles in NASA's Artemis missions and for delivering astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis IV mission in 2028. However, the ISS will continue to receive cargo and Crew Dragon spacecraft flights through 2030, making the transition to Starship a significant engineering challenge. The success of Starship in achieving reliable, multiple-weekly launches will ultimately determine when SpaceX begins to phase out the Falcon 9.