Ars Technica considered that the American Falcon 9 is the most reliable rocket in the world
Russian Soyuz rockets are the "kings of all rockets" in terms of the total number of launches, but they are inferior in reliability to the American Falcon 9, according to Eric Berger, a columnist for the American publication Ars Technica.
The author from the USA recalled that since 1957, about 12 modifications of the Soyuz family carriers have been launched more than 1,900 times, of which over 100 were unsuccessful. The author called the decommissioned Russian Soyuz-U and the American Delta II one of the most reliable missiles in the world. In particular, the first in 1983-1986 had 100 successful launches in a row. The second one has the same amount.
Meanwhile, Berger is confident that the American Falcon 9 rocket has already surpassed Soyuz-U and Delta II in terms of the number of successful launches in a row. The first, according to the observer, has made more than 110 successful starts in a row.
"What seems remarkable about all this is that the Falcon 9 accumulated this safety record just at the time when [US company] SpaceX was experimenting and demonstrating reuse," the author writes.
According to NASASpaceFlight.com, in 2021, the ten first stages of SpaceX's Falcon 9 heavy rocket launched 31 times. The publication notes that on average, one first stage of the rocket was used 3.1 times. The maximum number of times the first stage was launched is 11. Out of 31 Falcon 9 launches to Earth, the first stage successfully returned 30 times. The preparation time for the new launch of the used first stage of the carrier was reduced to 27.2 days.
At the same time, SpaceNews wrote that SpaceX surpasses all countries in the world except China in the number of recent annual launches.
