While SpaceX’s colossal Starship may steal the spotlight with its size and ambition, the Falcon 9 is quietly building a legacy of its own. Last week marked a milestone that once seemed almost unimaginable: a single Falcon 9 first-stage booster launched for the 30th time.
This isn’t just any booster—it has been flying since June 2021. Over the years, it has carried a wide variety of payloads, including:
It has earned its reputation as the dependable “pickup truck” of spaceflight—not flashy, but remarkably tough, and clearly capable of far surpassing its original “warranty.”
When SpaceX first championed reusability, the idea seemed almost audacious. The initial goal was modest: achieve ten flights per booster. Today, that benchmark feels like ancient history. With 30 flights logged, the company is already eyeing 40 flights per booster—a goal that seems entirely within reach. At the rate Falcon 9 keeps delivering, expectations may need another adjustment soon.
Just as Falcon 9 hit its 30-flight milestone, SpaceX also celebrated another achievement: 400 booster landings. The first successful landing in 2016 felt like something pulled straight from science fiction. Now, it’s so routine that livestream audiences barely blink when a booster gracefully touches down on a drone ship. What once seemed like a futuristic stunt has become business as usual.
These records go beyond bragging rights. Reusability is fundamentally rewriting the economics of space travel. Lower costs enable:
It’s akin to the leap from disposable planes to modern aircraft—machines designed to fly repeatedly, efficiently, and safely.
Falcon 9 may lack the futuristic allure of Starship, but it has something else: an unrivaled record of performance. Thirty flights from a single booster marks more than just history—it shows how a once “wild” concept has become an industry standard.
And one thing is certain: SpaceX won’t stop at 40 flights. If the Falcon 9 has taught us anything, it’s that this rocket still has plenty of sky left to claim.