Rather too much SpaceX hype.
The Delta II had 100 consecutive successful launches of payload into orbit.
Falcon 9 has a long way to go to be the more reliable rocket in history. The stats for it are never quoted as Falcon 9. Always as Falcon “family”. You only need one partial failure to destroy the pursuit of “100 consecutive”. It has 470 launches . . . **in the family** but no one variant has achieved the 100 consecutive record put out there by Delta II.
Delta II stats are carefully quoted as the specific rocket variant. There are other Delta rockets that could be added. It completed its run in 2018 with the 100th consecutive success.
Falcon 9 has a long way to go to be the more reliable rocket in history
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False.
The Falcon 9 rocket achieved a record of 120 consecutive successful orbital launches without a failure or partial failure from January 14, 2017, to April 21, 2022. This streak is the longest of any rocket model to date.
Sorry bud, the Delta II program has a long history. Over a span of 29 years, the rocket launched 155 times with 100 consecutive successful missions, culminating in the final ICESat-2 flight for NASA. The Falcon 9 nearly exceeded that number with 134 Falcon 9 launches in just 1 year.
In 2024, SpaceX launched a record-breaking 134 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, a significant increase from 96 in 2023, surpassing all other launch entities combined.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Total Launches: SpaceX performed 134 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches in 2024.
Falcon 9 Launches: 132 of those launches were Falcon 9, with 133 successes and 1 failure.
Falcon Heavy Launches: 2 of the launches were Falcon Heavy.
Starlink Missions: About two-thirds of the launches were dedicated to Starlink, with the remaining one-third for customer missions.
Record-Breaking Year: This launch surge helped set a new global launch record in 2024, with SpaceX performing more orbital launches than the rest of the world combined.
Non-Starlink Missions: 45 of the 134 launches were for customers, up from 33 in 2023.
Launch Success Rate: SpaceX achieved a 99.3% launch success rate in 2024.
Reusable Boosters: SpaceX reused 126 boosters in 2024.