Falcon 9 vs Concorde
Falcon 9 (70 m) is 1.14× the size of Concorde (61.7 m).
Concorde is 88% of the height of Falcon 9. The gap between them is 8.34 m (27.4 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Falcon 9 | 70 m | 230 ft | height |
| Concorde | 61.7 m | 202 ft | length |
What the scale shows
Falcon 9 (70 m) is 1.14× the size of Concorde (61.7 m). The gap between them is 8.34 m (27.4 ft). Both are vehicles & ships, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 88% of the frame while the larger one runs to the top. The two are close enough that the difference is easy to see side by side.
Read the rest — 8 more sections
What each figure means
The figure for Falcon 9 is its height (full vehicle height). The figure for Concorde is its length (overall length).
Crossing them
Walking pace is 1.4 m/s, so crossing Falcon 9's 70 m takes 50 seconds and Concorde's 61.7 m takes 44 seconds.
In people: Falcon 9 is 41 adults of 1.7 m tall, Concorde is 36.3. By size Falcon 9 is 10th of the 14 vehicles & ships on this site and Concorde is 11th, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. The Falcon 9 is given as a height, full vehicle height. The Concorde is given as a length, overall length. One is a height and the other is a length, so the drawing stands them side by side by convention: everything is stood upright on a single baseline so one scale can hold. That is a fair way to compare overall extent, not a claim that the two are oriented the same way in real life.
Vehicles are listed by overall length. Rockets are the exception and are given as full stack height standing on the pad. Everything is drawn standing upright so one scale holds.
Where the pair sits among all the sizes here
Across all 86 things on this site, the Falcon 9 is number 57 from the top and the Concorde is number 58. No other item falls between them, so in this collection they are direct neighbours.
Because the collection spans 13 mm up to 1,392,700 km, a ratio of 107,130,769,231× from smallest to largest, the position of a pair says a lot: the pair sits in the middle of the range rather than at an extreme.
What the length ratio hides
A length ratio of 1.14× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, the Falcon 9 would have about 1.29× the surface or footprint of the Concorde, and about 1.46× the volume. These two are not the same shape, so treat the figures as an upper bound for an imaginary scaled copy, not as a measurement of either one.
The drawing above shows length only. The Concorde is drawn 88% as tall as the Falcon 9, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 77.6%, which is why the smaller one looks even slighter than the numbers alone suggest.
Time to cross each one
A sprinter holding about 10 m/s covers the Falcon 9 in 7 seconds and the Concorde in 6.2 seconds. Sound, at about 343 m/s in air, takes 204 milliseconds for the larger and 180 milliseconds for the smaller. A jet cruising at 900 km/h needs 280 milliseconds and 247 milliseconds.
These times assume a straight line and constant speed, which no real crossing has, but they turn a number in metres into something the body understands. At any fixed speed the travel times keep the same 1.14× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
The Falcon 9 measures 70 m, which is 230 ft or 76.6 yards. The Concorde measures 61.7 m, which is 202 ft.
The difference between them is 8.34 m (27.4 ft). In metres the smaller one is 61.66 against 70, so the 1.14× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, the Falcon 9 or the Concorde?
The Falcon 9 is bigger. At 70 m it is 1.14× the size of the Concorde, which is 61.7 m.
How many times does the Concorde fit along the Falcon 9?
Less than twice: the Concorde is 88% of the size of the Falcon 9, so one fits with 8.34 m to spare.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
No. The Falcon 9 is a height (full vehicle height) and the Concorde is a length (overall length), so read the comparison as overall extent.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, the Falcon 9 is about 41 people tall and the Concorde is about 36.3. The gap of 8.34 m is 4.9 people.
Where do the numbers come from?
Each item has its own page that names the measurement and links to the Wikipedia article it was taken from. Some figures are rounded, and animals vary from one individual to the next, so treat them as representative values rather than records for every case.
How the sizes are taken. Each figure says what it measures — height, length, diameter or elevation — and for which individual or convention. Everything is drawn standing upright on one baseline so a single scale holds, including things that are long rather than tall. Values come from the linked Wikipedia article for each item.