Falcon 9 second stage
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
About this model
Falcon 9 second stage is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a rocket stage, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 16,060 triangles in a 84 kB glTF file, and is 14 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Length | 13.8 m |
| Diameter | 3.7 m |
Wikipedia, 'Falcon 9' (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9), second-stage table read 2026-10-26: 'Height 13.8 m', 'Diameter 3.7 m', 'Empty mass 3,900 kg'; aluminium-lithium friction-stir-welded tank 'a shorter version of the first stage tank'. OURS: the Merlin Vacuum's bell (2.7 m exit, read off the factory photograph against the 3.7 m tank), where the black engine section ends, the raceway and pods (read 2026-10-26)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions; compared with SpaceX's CC0 photographs and Steve Jurvetson's CC BY 2.0 photographs of the stage.
The full record
built by this project in code (tools/stage-builder/, release 1.4.0 stage r14-m1: stagelib.py and one function a stage in stages.py); no image-to-3D model was used and no published mesh: none of NASA 3D Resources' 1 583 paths is this stage and a web search found no agency or operator model of it (read 2026-10-26)
Where the map uses it. catalogue name FALCON 9 R/B (klass rocket): the Falcon 9 second stage with its Merlin Vacuum, 55 in long-lived orbits; public #1167
Licence note. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). Every picture it was compared with is listed under references; each was only looked at, none was traced, copied or projected, and the share-alike ones (CC BY-SA) are credited all the same.
References 4
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Falcon 9 second stage fuel tank (Steve Jurvetson, Flickr)Steve JurvetsonCC BY 2.0 (Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26); looked at, nothing taken from it
- Merlin nozzle (Steve Jurvetson, Flickr)Steve JurvetsonCC BY 2.0 (Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26); looked at, nothing taken from it
- THAICOM 8 (27182484081)SpaceXCC0 (SpaceX; Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- THAICOM 8 (27182485331)SpaceXCC0 (SpaceX; Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Falcon 9 second stage 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=falcon9-stage2" title="Falcon 9 second stage, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
Falcon 9 first stage
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
R-7 (8K72K) core and Blok E
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
