Falcon Heavy will be able to do even more!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Heavy
While the initial specifications of the new launcher in April 2011 projected LEO payloads of up to 53,000 kilograms (117,000 lb)[13] and GTO payloads up to 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb),[14] later reports in 2011 projected higher payloads beyond low Earth orbit, including 19,000 kilograms (42,000 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit,[15] 16,000 kilograms (35,000 lb) to translunar trajectory, and 14,000 kilograms (31,000 lb) on a trans-Martian orbit to Mars.[9][16]
By late 2013, SpaceX had raised the projected GTO payload for Falcon Heavy to up to 21,200 kilograms (46,700 lb).[17]
It is scheduled to be launched for the first time in 2015 with no payload since it is a demo flight.
Falcon Heavy video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTwRxtmQ9IY
And after that?
The Mars Colonial Transporter being lifted by a cluster of nine Raptor engines within a 10 meter diameter airframe with each Raptor generating 1.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. This rocket might be called the Falcon X or Falcon 10. It’ll be able to lift 100 to 150 tons of cargo into space and still do it cheaper than the Shuttle.
And after that?
Rumors are the Falon XX which could possibly lift 200 or more tons of cargo into space.
Is the Shuttle (lifts about 25 tons or 50,045 lbs. of cargo) still better than these?
No to mention it takes a few years or less to build another Falcon rocket, costs less per pound, doesn’t take human resources to fly it, isn’t limited to a cargo bay size and shape (which was a PIA, btw), and doesn’t cost $2 billion per launch. (NASA liked to claim it cost less than $1 billion but they lied and did not include the cost to refurbish the boosters, shuttle, and build new center tanks.)
Let’s not even get into the environmental impact of the toxic chemicals needed to produce and refurbish the Shuttle.
The Shuttle was a dog from its inception and many, many engineers tried to talk them out of it, but a landable vehicle was all the rage with the polidiots in NASA.