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Booster landing column - and other missing details from the launch history table

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Shouldn't the list of FH launches include a column for whether the core and boosters successfully landed? It feels like this would be helpful for ease of reading, so people can see the outcome at a glance, and it would match the booster landing column in the List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. Thedarkfourth (talk) 14:57, 4 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Concur. I was hoping to see the booster recoveries here. It seems a shame that the full list of Falcon launches has more detail on the FH launches than in this article. Any reason not to extract the FH entries from the full falcon list(s), eg showing all 3 core/booster ids., orbit, payload mass etc? - Rod57 (talk) 11:53, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
eg - The Falcon 9 list articles include FH launches formatted as, eg. :
- Would be useful to see similar here too, maybe even extend for FH specifics. - Rod57 (talk) 09:16, 29 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Falcon Heavy may have a payload limit well below the theoretical 60+ tons

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According to the June 2022 GAO report on major NASA project. [11]

″According to officials, the project office finalized the updated mass allocations for the HALO and the PPE in February 2022, though as of that date, the co-manifested vehicle mass was above the established mission design limits. If the combined mass of the co-manifested vehicle is too high, it could affect its ability to reach the correct lunar orbit. Further, project officials explained that mass affects the overall mission design because the Falcon Heavy has a mass limit. The project office is taking steps to try to reduce mass. For example, the project also created a mass recovery plan and is assessing mass reduction opportunities. The HALO and PPE projects are working with their respective contractors to manage mass. The project is evaluating whether it will need to off-load some components for initial launch, which would then need to be delivered to Gateway on a future logistics vehicle and installed on-orbit.″

The most current Falcon user guide from SpaceX gives an upper limit of just under 19,000kg (figure 3-4). [12]

The launch mass of PPE+HALO appears to be the upper end of what FH can lift to LEO, not due to performance shortcomings but due to structural limits of the Falcon second stage. Ramlaen (talk) 19:48, 20 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ "SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches USSF-67 from 39A". NASASpaceFlight.com. January 15, 2015. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  2. ^ Berger, Eric (August 7, 2020). "In a consequential decision, Air Force picks its rockets for mid-2020s launches". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Erwin, Sandra (November 9, 2020). "SpaceX explains why the U.S. Space Force is paying US$316 million for a single launch". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  4. ^ Erwin, Sandra (October 31, 2021). "Falcon Heavy could launch three U.S. Space Force missions in 2022". SpaceNews. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  5. ^ "ViaSat-3 Americas launches on expendable Falcon Heavy". NASASpaceFlight.com. April 30, 2023. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  6. ^ "Viasat, SpaceX Enter Contract for a Future ViaSat-3 Satellite Launch" (Press release). ViaSat. October 25, 2018. Archived from the original on July 12, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Henry, Caleb (October 25, 2018). "Viasat books Falcon Heavy for ViaSat-3 launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  8. ^ Rainbow, Jason (September 23, 2021). "Next commercial Falcon Heavy mission to launch debut Astranis satellite". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  9. ^ "Application for Fixed Satellite Service by Astranis Bermuda Ltd. – Attachment Narrative" (PDF). Astranis Bermuda. FCC. June 7, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  10. ^ "SpaceX launches 3 satellites to orbit on 6th-ever Falcon Heavy mission". Space.com. April 30, 2023. Archived from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  11. ^ https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-105212.pdf
  12. ^ https://www.spacex.com/media/falcon-users-guide-2021-09.pdf
  • The user guide says, p11 & 13, contact SX for loads outside the curves given. The CG-mass curves seem to be for the 2 standard payload adapters. What is source for mass limit being due to 2nd stage structure ?
  • Just to add another data point to this, the ISS deorbit vehicle will be >30t [1] This combined with the PPE+HALO study showing no hard limits in their graph of performance but a smooth curve confirms that the "mass limit" discussed in the HALO+PPE refers to a limit of performance to the highly elliptical orbit, not a structural limit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.145.220.241 (talk) 19:49, 17 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Good point about the ISS deorbit vehicle being >30t.
    3 yrs after the 2022 GAO report : Have SpaceX, NASA or later GAO reports updated on either issue ? - Rod57 (talk) 09:35, 29 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can we note current payload to trans lunar injection

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Since FH is/was to launch Dragon XL to Gateway, what is the best source we have for FH expendable (and reusable boosters) payload to Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) ? If nothing else, can we use NASA's payload calculation website (see archive-1) ? - Rod57 (talk) 08:27, 1 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Added 73.210.30.217 (talk) 06:03, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I see "16 t (35,000 lb) to translunar trajectory," (for 2011).
Would be nice to add a TLI row to the nearby Maximum theoretical payload capacity table. even if dates after 2011 can only say TBA. - Rod57 (talk) 09:47, 29 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is the 2nd stage a standard Falcon 9 2nd stage

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The FH centre/core is a strengthened F9 booster. Is the FH 2nd stage a standard or strengthened F9 2nd stage ? - Rod57 (talk) 12:20, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]


Hybrid RP-1/Hydrogen

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I'm not a rocket scientist, but I have a question regardless. Would a combination of 2 boosters (6 x merlin) running on Hydrogen/LOX make it possible to reach orbit? One would still be RP-1 for that Ooomph. Alternatively would 2 boosters running RP-1/LOX and 1 booster running Hydrogen/LOX be able to achieve this? The main question is whether it's feasible to throw _some_ Hydrogen in there, with the knowledge that hydrogen does not generate enough thrust to take off alone (see: SLS, Space Shuttle, Ariane 5, all these use solid rocket boosters to get off the pad). Thanks! (oh btw this is all for the 1st stage obviously). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.187.70.56 (talk) 17:00, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is in principle nothing stopping a rocket from using purely hydrogen and oxygen on their first stage (see for example New Shepard or Delta IV Heavy). However the existing Merlin engines and Falcon 9/Heavy fuel systems are almost certainly incompatible with liquid hydrogen and, as far as I can tell, there is currently no indication that SpaceX is pursuing the replacement of their current Falcon Heavy boosters with new ones powered by liquid hydrogen. 138.246.3.72 (talk) 09:22, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Cost per launch infobox

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Should this be changed to launch price range? The launch prices given in the launch history are significantly higher, significantly more recent and differ significantly from mission to mission. In my opinion the info box should be removed or changed to align with the actual known launch contract prices from the list of Falcon Heavy launches. Additionally using a range instead of a single value makes more sense given the large spread in launch prices. Finally more recent numbers from actual launch contracts should be used in place of claims made in 2017 (before the inaugural launch) where available. 138.246.3.72 (talk) 09:08, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Future Falcon Heavy Launches

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There are many future launches mentioned by Ars Technica that do not appear on this page. Pkirvan (talk) 03:14, 10 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  • That ArsTechnica article only seems to mention (for FH) :
  • - NROL-97 on a Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral
  • - USSF-15 (GPS IIIF-3) on a Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral
  • - USSF-174 on a Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral
  • - USSF-186 on a Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral
  • All those are listed here. - Rod57 (talk) 09:56, 29 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ https://x.com/dpoddolphinpro/status/1813655227158945866
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