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Grasshopper / Falcon-9R-Dev

Grasshopper [SpaceX]

Falcon-9R-Dev
[SpaceX]

Grasshopper is a suborbital technological research vehicle built by SpaceX to develop a reusable, vertical landing first stage for the Falcon-9 rocket.

Grasshopper consists of the first stage of Falcon-9 v1.0, fitted with only one Merlin-1D engine and fixed landing legs. SpaceX conducts low altitude flights of Grasshopper at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test site.

Falcon-9R-Dev is test vehicle for the Falcon-9 v1.1 and consists of the longer first stage of Falcon-9 v1.1(ex), fitted with three Merlin-1D engine and operational deployable lightweight landing legs. SpaceX conducts low altitude flights of the Falcon-9R-Dev at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test site and plans to conduct higher altitude suborbital tests with a second vehicle at Spaceport America, a new commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The second vehicle was apparently converted to the Abort Test Booster to be used in the Crew Dragon Flight Abort Test at Vandenberg.

Version Stage 1
Grasshopper Stage 1 / Merlin-1D
Falcon-9R-Dev ("Grasshopper-2") Stage 1 (str.) / 3 × Merlin-1D
No.  TypNo Type                 Serial/Core         Date          LS          Payload 

 1    1    Grasshopper          B0002.1             22.09.2012 *   MG          (R&D)
 2    2    Grasshopper          B0002.2             01.11.2012 *   MG          (R&D)
 3    3    Grasshopper          B0002.3             17.12.2012 *   MG          (R&D)
 4    4    Grasshopper          B0002.4             07.03.2013 *   MG          (R&D)
 5    5    Grasshopper          B0002.5             19.04.2013 *   MG          (R&D)
 6    6    Grasshopper          B0002.6             14.06.2013 *   MG          (R&D)
 7    7    Grasshopper          B0002.7             13.08.2013 *   MG          (R&D)
 8    8    Grasshopper          B0002.8             07.10.2013 *   MG          (R&D)
 9    1    Falcon-9R-Dev-1      B1002.1             17.04.2014 *   MG          (R&D)
10    2    Falcon-9R-Dev-1      B1002.2             01.05.2014 *   MG          (R&D)
11    3    Falcon-9R-Dev-1      B1002.3             17.06.2014 *   MG          (R&D)
12    4    Falcon-9R-Dev-1      B1002.4             01.08.2014 *   MG          (R&D)
13    5    Falcon-9R-Dev-1      B1002.5             22.08.2014 *F  MG          (R&D)


Failures:

13: Vehicle lost control and was automatically destroyed


Launch sites:

MG  = SpaceX McGregor Test Site, McGregor, Texas, USA USA
SA  = Spaceport America (SouthWest Regional Spaceport), Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA USA

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