Falcon Heavy
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 5 launch vehicles by recommenders
People recommend it as a flight-proven rocket with more lift capacity than rivals and a record of successful launches. Critics say heavy launch is a small market and that it is costly per kilogram.
People recommend it as a flight-proven rocket with more lift capacity than rivals and a record of successful launches. Critics say heavy launch is a small market and that it is costly per kilogram.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Flight-proven with successful launch record
“the rocket exists, is flight proven, and has enough capacity to shoot an Orion to any trajectory it is expected to encounter”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Artemis II is not safe to fly” “Falcon Heavy has launched something to the orbit of Mars, launched multiple (including NASA) missions to space”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis program amid safety concerns, delays” “The Falcon Heavy has made 12 launches and all of them have been successful.”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope” - Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis program amid safety concerns, delays”
Lifts more mass than rivals
“significantly worse reliability records as well as lacking the payload capacity of something like Falcon Heavy”
Comment from 20 May 2026 in “Elon Musk has lost his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI” “Falcon Heavy can launch more mass than New Glenn, currently, for cheaper.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Blue Origin lands New Glenn rocket booster on second try” “Even without Starship Falcon Heavy is still competitive with New Glenn”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “SpaceX in Talks for Share Sale That Would Boost Valuation to $800B” - Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis program amid safety concerns, delays”
Can reach lunar and deep-space missions
“the rocket exists, is flight proven, and has enough capacity to shoot an Orion to any trajectory it is expected to encounter”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Artemis II is not safe to fly” “as a Falcon Heavy could absolutely be fitted for a lunar flyby if desired”
Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “How JPL Keeps the 13-Year-Old Curiosity Rover Doing Science” “Falcon Heavy and now New Gleen can do most things SLS can”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis program amid safety concerns, delays” Cheaper than competing heavy rockets
“Falcon Heavy can launch more mass than New Glenn, currently, for cheaper.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Blue Origin lands New Glenn rocket booster on second try” “Because it's cheaper and more frequent.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “SpaceX in Talks for Share Sale That Would Boost Valuation to $800B”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Small market for heavy payloads
“There's not really a market for bigger payloads (evidence: ~1 Falcony Heavy launch per year)”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “SpaceX Strikes Deal With Cursor for $60 Billion” “despite heavy launch not really being a viable market segment”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Tesla Is Recalling Cybertrucks Again”
Other launch vehicles people recommend
The four most recommended other launch vehicles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Origin New Glenn | 28 | 17 | 62% | 6 | — | — |
| Falcon HeavyThis page | 16 | 4 | 80% | 11 | — | Approved |
| SpaceX Falcon rockets | 13 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Rocket Lab launch services | 11 | 2 | 85% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ariane 6 | 11 | 14 | 44% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
25 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Super heavy partially reusable rocket”
“So the Falcon Heavy would be perfectly suitable.”
“the program has already been obsoleted by the Falcon Heavy”
“turned out much more complicated and expensive than originally expected”
“far above SpaceX's prices for even an expendable GTO launch”
“The Falcon Heavy has made 12 launches and all of them have been successful.”
“Falcon Heavy is more expensive per kg than F9, because it throws away more things.”
“as a Falcon Heavy could absolutely be fitted for a lunar flyby if desired”
“Really the least risky thing right now would probably be if BO retooled their lander to fly on a Falcon Heavy.”
“the lander should have been launched on falcon heavy”
“significantly worse reliability records as well as lacking the payload capacity of something like Falcon Heavy”
“There's not really a market for bigger payloads (evidence: ~1 Falcony Heavy launch per year)”
“the rocket exists, is flight proven, and has enough capacity to shoot an Orion to any trajectory it is expected to encounter”
“Falcon Heavy and now New Gleen can do most things SLS can”
“Falcon Heavy has launched something to the orbit of Mars, launched multiple (including NASA) missions to space”
“Falcon Heavy also worked the first time it flew”
“Arianespace ensures it's more than a decade away from matching today's Falcon Heavy”
“Because it's cheaper and more frequent.”
“Even without Starship Falcon Heavy is still competitive with New Glenn”
“Being a better Falcon Heavy is a much more realistic goal.”
“the Falcon Heavy has way too little fairing volume for it's lift capacity”
“slapping a bunch of Falcons together looks like an excellent corporate engineering strategy choice”
“slapping a bunch of Falcons together was not structurally reasonable design choice”
“Falcon Heavy can launch more mass than New Glenn, currently, for cheaper.”
“despite heavy launch not really being a viable market segment”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.