---
title: "NASA Certifies SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to Launch Its Top Missions"
description: "SpaceX's Falcon 9 is now certified as a Category 3 rocket, meaning it can support NASA's more expensive and sensitive missions."
date: "2018-11-09"
modified: "2018-11-09"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/falcon-9-spacex-nasa-category-3"
categories:
  - "Falcon"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "falcon 9"
  - "NASA"
  - "SpaceX"
---

# NASA Certifies SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to Launch Its Top Missions

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/falcon-9-spacex-nasa-category-3.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: SpaceX\</em\>*

## It's a Celebration

Break out the champagne.

On Thursday, SpaceX representatives announced that NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) certified its two-stage Falcon 9 as a Category 3 rocket. That's the categorization needed to handle expensive or sensitive missions, such as the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars Curiosity rover.

## Made the Grade

The LSP is responsible for choosing the launch vehicles that will carry out NASA missions focused on science and exploration. It categorizes vehicles on a scale of 1 to 3 based on their reliability.

NASA considers Category 3 vehicles to be the most dependable, with a demonstrated reliability rate between 90 and 95 percent. They're the only ones certified to carry out NASA's most expensive or sensitive missions, and now the Falcon 9 has joined their ranks.

## Reliable Rocket

In 2015, NASA certified SpaceX's Falcon 9 as a [Category 2 vehicle](<https://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/15/spacex-gets-certified-to-launch-nasa-science-missions/>), meaning it demonstrated reliability 80 to 90 percent of the time. Three years later, the Falcon 9 has moved up in NASA's rocket hierarchy, and the significance of this reclassification is not lost on SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell.

"LSP Category 3 certification is a major achievement for the Falcon 9 team and represents another key milestone in our close partnership with NASA," said Shotwell in a statement, as [reported by *Space.com*](<https://www.space.com/42387-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-nasa-certification.html>). "We are honored to have the opportunity to provide cost-effective and reliable launch services to the country’s most critical scientific payloads."

**READ MORE:** [SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket Certified to Launch NASA's Most Precious Science Missions](<https://www.space.com/42387-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-nasa-certification.html>) \[Space.com\]

***More on the Falcon 9: Falcon 9 Launch Lights up the Sky in a Stunning Display***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)