Merlin is a family of liquid fuel rocket engines SpaceX designed and manufactures, burning RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen in a gas generator cycle, that power the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, nine on a Falcon 9 first stage plus one vacuum-optimized engine on the second stage. Originally designed for sea recovery and reuse, Merlin has enabled Falcon 9 boosters to land vertically and refly since 2016, drawing on an injector design derived from the Apollo Lunar Module's landing engine, and by 2024 a single Merlin 1D had flown 22 times, the most of any rocket engine in history.
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