Head to head

Falcon 9 vs Space Shuttle

Two vehicles in the same payload class. Every figure below comes from the same two sources for both rockets, and a row appears only when both publish the input.

Payload to low Earth orbit

Relative

Falcon 9: 22,800 kg

Space Shuttle: 27,500 kg

Side by side

10 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Falcon 9	Space Shuttle
Flights flown	697	135
Success rate	99.4%	98.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	22,800	27,500
Launch cost	$52M	$450M
Cost per kg to LEO	$2,281	$16,364
Liftoff thrust (kN)	7,607	28,200
Length (m)	70	56.1
Diameter (m)	3.65	8
Launch mass (t)	549	2030
Stages	2	2

Falcon 9

Flight record

99.4% success rate693 of 697 flown · 4 failed

2010peak 2025 · 165 flights2026

Maiden flight 2018-05-11. Still flying.

Space Shuttle

Flight record

98.5% success rate133 of 135 flown · 2 failed

1981peak 1985 · 9 flights2011

Maiden flight 1981-04-12. Retired.

Falcon 9 is built by SpaceX of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Space Shuttle is built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Falcon 9 · Space Shuttle.

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.