engines from SpaceX have seen steady improvements. The Merlin 1D has been used as recently as January 23, 2024, when a Falcon 9 rocket launched 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

With the launch Friday and another Falcon 9 flight Monday (this one with a booster on its 15th mission), SpaceX has launched ...

The rocket typically needs to go 17,500 MPH ... During Miko, we'll shut down the 9 Merlin 1D engines, which was followed by stage separation. Once separated from the second stage, the booster ...