List of failed SpaceX launches

Since March 2006, SpaceX has launched 5 Falcon 1, 223 Falcon 9, 6 Falcon Heavy, and 1 Starship rockets. Of these, 3 Falcon 1, 2 Falcon 9 and 1 Starship launches were complete failures and 1 Falcon 9 launch were partial failures. [1][2] As of May 2023, SpaceX has a 97.4% launch success rate.[lower-alpha 1]

Orbital launch attempts

Falcon 1
Flight No. Date / time (UTC) Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customers Launch outcome Launch video
1 24 March 2006, 22:30 Omelek Island FalconSAT-2 19.5 kg LEO (Planned) DARPA Failure[3] [video 1]
Engine failure at T+33 seconds. Loss of vehicle.[4] FalconSAT-2 landed in a storage shed near the launch site.[5][6]
2 21 March 2007, 01:10 Omelek Island DemoSat LEO (Planned) DARPA Failure[7] [video 2]
Successful first-stage burn and transition to second stage, maximal altitude 289 km.[8] Harmonic oscillation at T+5 minutes. Premature engine shutdown at T+7 min 30 s. Failed to reach orbit.[9]
3 3 August 2008, 03:34[10] Omelek Island Trailblazer
PRESat
NanoSail-D
Explorers		 4 kg LEO (Planned) ORS
NASA
NASA
Celestis[11]		 Failure[12] [video 3]
Residual stage-1 thrust[13] led to collision between stage 1 and stage 2.[14]

Falcon 9
Flight No. Date and

time (UTC)

 Booster Version[lower-alpha 2] Launch site Payload[lower-alpha 3] Payload mass Orbit Customer Launch outcome Booster landing
4 8 October 2012,

00:35[15]

 F9 v1.0[16] B0006[17] CCAFS,

SLC-40

 SpaceX CRS-1[18](Dragon C103) 4,700 kg (10,400 lb) (excl. Dragon mass) LEO (ISS) NASA (CRS) Success No attempt
Orbcomm-OG2[19] 172 kg (379 lb)[20] LEO Orbcomm Partial failure[21]
CRS-1 was successful, but the secondary payload was inserted into an abnormally low orbit and subsequently lost. This was due to one of the nine Merlin engines shutting down during the launch, and NASA declining a second reignition, as per ISS visiting vehicle safety rules, the primary payload owner is contractually allowed to decline a second reignition. NASA stated that this was because SpaceX could not guarantee a high enough likelihood of the second stage completing the second burn successfully which was required to avoid any risk of secondary payload's collision with the ISS.[22][23][24]
5 28 June 2015,

14:21[15][25]

 F9 v1.1B1018[17] Cape Canaveral,

LC-40

 SpaceX CRS-7[26](Dragon C109) 1,952 kg (4,303 lb)[27] (excl. Dragon mass) LEO (ISS) NASA (CRS) Failure (in flight)[28][29] Precluded[30]

(drone ship)

Launch performance was nominal until an overpressure incident in the second-stage LOX tank, leading to vehicle breakup at T+150 seconds. Dragon capsule survived the explosion but was lost upon splashdown as its software did not contain provisions for parachute deployment on launch vehicle failure.[31](more details below) The drone ship Of Course I Still Love You was towed out to sea to prepare for a landing test so this mission was its first operational assignment.[32]
6 [lower-alpha 4] 3 September 2016,

07:00 (planned)[33]

 F9 FT

B1028[34]

 Cape Canaveral,

LC-40

 AMOS-6[35] 5,500 kg (12,100 lb) GTO Spacecom Precluded
(failure pre-flight)		 Precluded

(drone ship)

The rocket and the AMOS-6 payload were lost in a launch pad explosion on 1 September 2016 during propellant filling procedures prior to a static fire test.[36] The pad was clear of personnel, and there were no injuries.[37][38] SpaceX released an official statement in January 2017 indicating that the cause of the failure was a buckled liner in several of the Composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) (used to store helium which pressurize the stage's propellant tanks), causing perforations that allowed liquid and/or solid oxygen to accumulate underneath the lining, which was ignited by friction.[39] Following the explosion, SpaceX has switched to performing static fire tests only without attached payloads.(more details below)

Starship
Flight

No.

 Date and

time (UTC)

 Booster Version Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customer Launch

outcome

 Booster landing
7 20 April 2023,

13:33

 Prototype Starbase Texas Unknown Unknown Suborbital None Failure No attempt planned
The first integrated test flight broke up in the atmosphere after a stage separation failure.

Videos
  1. Falcon 1 Flight 1 on YouTube
  2. Falcon 1 DemoFlight 2 Launch on YouTube
  3. Falcon 1 Flight 3 Launch Video on YouTube

Notes
  1. Total number of SpaceX launch as of May 2023 : 5+227+1 = 233. Out of 233 launches, 3+2+1=6 were complete failures. 227 out of 233 is a 97.4% success rate.
  2. Falcon 9 first-stage boosters are designated with a construction serial number and an optional flight number when reused, e.g. B1021.1 and B1021.2 represent the two flights of booster B1021. Launches using reused boosters are denoted with a recycled symbol ♺.
  3. Dragon 1 or 2 are designated with a construction serial number or name and an optional flight number when reused, e.g. Dragon C106.1 and Dragon C106.2 represent the two flights of Dragon C106. Dragon spacecraft that are reused are denoted with a recycled symbol ♺.
  4. Since it was a pre-flight test, SpaceX does not count this scheduled attempt in their launch totals. Some sources do consider this planned flight into the counting schemes, and as a result, some sources might list launch totals after 2016 with one additional launch.

    References
    1. "SpaceXNow - Stats". spacexnow.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
    2. Berger, Eric (2021-05-26). "Falcon 9 completes its 100th successful flight in a row [Updated]". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
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    4. Tom Junod (14 November 2012). "Elon Musk: Triumph of His Will". Esquire. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
    5. France, Marty; Lawrence, Tim. "FalconSAT-2 Launched (and Recovered)" (PDF). United States Air Force Academy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
    6. "FalconSAT Program". United States Air Force Academy. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
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