SpaceX rockets explained: Falcon 9, Super Heavy and Starship
"SpaceX rocket" can mean a few very different machines. This is the plain-English guide to what they are, what each one carries, and — the part this site cares about — how each one comes back to land. And once you understand them, you can fly all three for free in LANDING BURN.
Falcon 9 — the workhorse
The Falcon 9 is the rocket you've seen land hundreds of times. It's a two-stage rocket whose first-stage booster flies back and lands upright on legs — on a coastal pad or an ocean droneship — to be reused. It launches satellites, cargo and crew, and a single booster has now flown 35 times. (Strap three Falcon boosters together and you get Falcon Heavy, for the heaviest payloads.) Its landing is the first mission in the game.
Super Heavy — the giant booster
Super Heavy is the first stage of the Starship system: the largest, most powerful booster ever flown, with around 33 engines. It does the heavy initial lifting, then comes back to the launch site — but it has no legs. Instead, the launch tower's "chopstick" arms catch it out of the air, Mechazilla-style. Catching the booster instead of landing it on legs saves weight and turnaround time.
Starship — the fully reusable spaceship
Starship is the second stage that rides on top of Super Heavy: a stainless-steel spacecraft meant to carry people and cargo to orbit, the Moon and Mars — and, crucially, to be fully reusable. It returns by entering the atmosphere belly-first, then flipping to vertical for a powered landing. On Mars, with almost no atmosphere, that landing burn becomes supersonic retropropulsion.
How they line up
- Falcon 9: partial reuse, lands on legs, the proven workhorse.
- Super Heavy: the booster stage, caught by the tower's arms.
- Starship: the upper stage / spaceship, lands by belly-flop and flip, aiming for full reuse.
Want the head-to-head? See Starship vs Falcon 9, or the bigger picture in how reusable rockets work.
Fly each one
LANDING BURN gives every rocket its own mission and its own way to die: a Falcon 9 droneship landing, a Super Heavy tower catch, and a Starship Mars descent. Same physics core, three completely different challenges — free, in your browser.
FAQ
- Is Starship a rocket or a spaceship?
- Both, in a sense — "Starship" is the upper-stage spacecraft, but the whole stack (Super Heavy + Starship) is also commonly called Starship.
- What's the most powerful SpaceX rocket?
- The Starship/Super Heavy stack — the most powerful rocket ever built, well beyond Falcon Heavy.
- Which is reusable?
- Falcon 9 reuses its booster and fairings; Starship is designed for full reuse of both stages. More in our reusability guide.
- Where can I fly them?
- LANDING BURN — free, no download, desktop and mobile.