As a bit of background, it likely won’t surprise you to hear that SpaceX is the undisputed leader in launch, conducting a record 96 launches last year alone. But its supremacy has not cowed a growing number of competitors, who say they can bring much-needed supply and competitive pressure to the market, something that benefits the industry at large.
We’ve surveyed the current medium-, heavy- and super-heavy lift rocket landscape, from vehicles that are currently operational to those rockets yet to fly. We decided to exclude smaller launchers in development — like Stoke Space’s Nova and ABL Space’s RS1 — but even so, this is a fairly broad view. Some of the rockets we discuss below may not compete directly with each other and will vary widely in price. But any one of them coming online would likely mean a shake-up to their vehicle class: Relativity’s Terran R could destabilize Falcon 9’s dominance; New Glenn and Starship could unlock regular travel to the moon and beyond.