Launch cost per kilogram by vehicle
USD per kilogram to LEO. Starship is a stated design target.
About this data
Falcon 9 reuse cut the cost to low-earth orbit by roughly an order of magnitude versus legacy expendable rockets. Starship targets a further step-change in $/kg, but that figure is a stated design goal, not a flown commercial price — it is labeled as such.
USD per kilogram to low-earth orbit. Starship is a stated design target.
View data & sources →Data table
| series | vehicle | source_ref | usd_per_kg | value_basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| launch_cost_per_kg | Space Shuttle | falcon9-wiki | 54500 | Shuttle ~$54,500/kg to LEO (legacy benchmark) |
| launch_cost_per_kg | Falcon 9 (expendable) | falcon9-wiki | 2720 | ~$2,720/kg to LEO, Falcon 9 |
| launch_cost_per_kg | Falcon 9 (reusable) | falcon9-wiki | 1400 | ~$1,400/kg effective with booster reuse |
| launch_cost_per_kg | Starship (target) | falcon9-wiki | 100 | Stated design target <$100/kg at full reusability |
Methodology & sources
Last updated: Jul 17, 2026Methodology
Source-backed values are seeded for all six chart sections: the Starlink subscriber S-curve (2020 → Feb 2026), SpaceX valuation by year with Rocket Lab market cap as a public comparator, launch successes vs failures by year (2006 → 2025) plus a dated milestone launch log, Starlink satellites deployed per year, launch cost per kilogram by vehicle, and a Starlink coverage map. Every numeric point carries a sources[].ref it traces to, plus a value_basis naming the report passage or brief section. Primary public sources (FCC, FAA, SEC EDGAR) are cited where authoritative; secondary reporting (Sacra, CB Insights, Statista, Space.com, CompaniesMarketCap, Wikipedia launch lists) is named where it was the reachable source. ESTIMATE: the Starlink coverage map is a clearly-labeled estimate of a representative set of active markets (on-chart "Estimated" ribbon), not a definitive per-country status. Blue Origin is private with no public valuation and is deliberately omitted from the valuation comparator rather than invented. The 2026 ~$1.75T figure is the IPO target, not a closed round. Re-verified 2026-06-15.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Falcon 9 (cost per kg) ↗ CC BY-SA
Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.