---
title: "Surprise!—Turns Out SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Can Haul a Lot More Stuff Into Orbit"
description: "Revealed in a series of tweets and an update to its website, SpaceX has just doubled the weight that the Falcon 9 rocket can deliver into Low Earth Orbit."
date: "2016-05-04"
modified: "2016-05-04"
authors:
  - name: "Jelor Gallego"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jelor-gallego"
url: "https://futurism.com/spacex-realizes-falcon-9-can-carry-more-weight"
categories:
  - "Falcon"
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "elonmusk"
  - "falcon 9"
  - "low earth orbit"
  - "private spaceflight"
  - "reusable rocket"
  - "SpaceX"
---

# Surprise!—Turns Out SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Can Haul a Lot More Stuff Into Orbit

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/spacex-falcon-vandenberg.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: SpaceX\</em\>*

We've all known that SpaceX's Falcon 9 can do a great many things: [it allows for more affordable spaceflight](<https://futurism.com/spacex-breaks-boeing-lockheed-monopoly-space-launches>), [it can land on a barge after delivering a payload to the ISS](<https://futurism.com/breaking-news-spacex-finally-re-lands-falcon-9-rocket-ocean-barge>), among many others. Yet these are all capabilities the company itself designed and often bragged about.

But what about those Falcon 9 capabilities SpaceX *didn't* know about?

Revealed in a series of tweets and an update to its website, SpaceX has just [doubled the weight that the Falcon 9 rocket can deliver](<http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/spacex-updates-falcon-rocket-capabilities/story?id=38813308>) into low earth orbit. But this is not due to some miraculous new engine, or a lighter body, or fantastic new materials.

https://youtu.be/ANv5UfZsvZQ

It's just because SpaceX never knew before that the rocket could carry that much.

Previously, the Falcon 9 had a rating of more than 13,000 kg (\~29,000 lbs) into Low Earth Orbit. Now, the Falcon 9 can launch nearly 23,000 kg (\~50,000 lbs) to LEO, according to SpaceX.

Elon Musk also tweeted that [these new capabilities are only for the expendable versions](<http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/1/11549456/spacex-falcon-9-heavy-launch-capabilities-weight-mars>) of its rocket, the type that doesn't land after launch. He said the reusable rockets will be 30 to 40% less capable than the expendable versions, presumably due to fuel constraints.