A Merlin rocket engine. Each Falcon 9 rocket uses 9 Merlin engines A computer simulation of a Falcon 9 launch At 10:30pm on November 23, 2008, near the airport in , Texas, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) tested their new  rocket at full thrust for nearly 3 minutes (160 seconds). The engineers then shut down two of the nine engines — in order to limit potential damage to the launch pad — and continued the test for 18 more seconds before finally shutting the rocket down. "We ran the engines just like they would run during flight, but instead of being up in the air, they were held down. They weren’t moving," said Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX's manager for business development. This was the Falcon 9's first major test firing, and it marks a milestone for the company in its plans to capture a section of the commercial launch market. The Falcon 9 rocket, and its smaller sibling the  , are the first rockets capable of entering (LEO) to have their design be privately funded in its entirety. According to SpaceX the Falcon 9 can generate 4 times the maximum thrust of a while firing in a vacuum, and will eventually be able to perform interplanetary missions in addition to its initial role as an orbital launch vehicle. SpaceX is also designing a crew and cargo capsule for the Falcon 9, which it has named the "".
A Merlin rocket engine. Each Falcon 9 rocket uses 9 Merlin engines A computer simulation of a Falcon 9 launch At 10:30pm on November 23, 2008, near the airport in , Texas, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) tested their new Falcon 9 rocket at full thrust for nearly 3 minutes (160 seconds). The engineers then shut down two of the nine engines — in order to limit potential damage to the launch pad — and continued the test for 18 more seconds before finally shutting the rocket down. "We ran the engines just like they would run during flight, but instead of being up in the air, they were held down. They weren’t moving," said Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX's manager for business development. This was the Falcon 9's first major test firing, and it marks a milestone for the company in its plans to capture a section of the commercial launch market. The Falcon 9 rocket, and its smaller sibling the Falcon 1 , are the first rockets capable of entering (LEO) to have their design be privately funded in its entirety. According to SpaceX the Falcon 9 can generate 4 times the maximum thrust of a while firing in a vacuum, and will eventually be able to perform interplanetary missions in addition to its initial role as an orbital launch vehicle. SpaceX is also designing a crew and cargo capsule for the Falcon 9, which it has named the "".
A
Falcon 9
A
Falcon 1