American publication points out the most reliable missile in the world
(Baonghean.vn) - Mr. Eric Berger, columnist for digital publication Ars Technica, said that Russian rockets of the Soyuz "family" are the "king of all rockets" in terms of total launches, but in terms of reliability, they are inferior to the American Falcon 9.
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| SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched. Photo: AP |
The American author recalls that since 1957, about 12 variants of the Soyuz family of launch vehicles have been launched more than 1,900 times, of which more than 100 were unsuccessful. The author names among the most reliable rockets in the world the Russian Soyuz-U and the American Delta II, which are retired rockets.
Notably, Soyuz-U had 100 consecutive successful launches between 1983 and 1986, and Delta II achieved similar results. Meanwhile, Mr. Berger believes that the US Falcon 9 rocket has surpassed Soyuz-U and Delta II in the number of consecutive successful launches. Specifically, Falcon 9 has performed more than 110 consecutive successful launches. The author writes: "What is most remarkable is that Falcon 9 achieved this safety record at the very time SpaceX was testing and demonstrating its reusability."According to NASA SpaceFlight.com, the first 10 stages of SpaceX's Falcon 9 heavy rocket have launched 31 times in 2021. The publication notes that on average, a rocket's first stage has been used 3.1 times. The maximum number of first-stage launches is 11. Of the 31 Falcon 9 launches, the first stage has successfully returned to Earth 30 times. The preparation time for a new launch of a used first stage has decreased to 27.2 days.
