Score: 0
High Score: 0
Controls: UP/W = Thrust | LEFT/RIGHT or A/D = Grid Fins | P/ESC = Pause | M = Mute
Guide the Falcon 9 first stage through re-entry and land on the drone ship!
SpaceX Lander is a modern take on the classic Lunar Lander, with realistic Falcon-9-style booster physics. You're flying a tall, top-heavy rocket against gravity, wind, and a thin fuel budget — aim for a vertical touchdown on the drone-ship pad. Slow, level, and on-target wins.
SpaceX Lander is a tribute to the engineering that made vertical-landing reusable boosters real. SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage flew back from orbit and landed itself on a drone ship for the first time in April 2016 (Of Course I Still Love You, in the Atlantic) — an outcome that decades of aerospace engineers had assumed was prohibitively expensive. This game uses physics inspired by that flight envelope.
How do I play SpaceX Lander? Use the up arrow to throttle the main engine and the left/right arrows to gimbal. Touch down vertically on the landing pad without crashing or running out of fuel.
Is SpaceX Lander free? Yes — no signup, no downloads, no installs.
How is this different from Lunar Lander? SpaceX Lander models a tall, slender booster with gimbal-thrust steering. Lunar Lander uses a more forgiving, low-CG capsule. Both reward gentle throttle.
Does my high score save? Yes — your best landing score is stored locally in your browser.