The Space Shuttle had a low earth orbit payload capacity of 27,500 kg. Falcon Heavy can launch 63,800 kg to orbit (in fully expendable mode, where they don't re

The Space Shuttle had a low earth orbit payload capacity of 27,500 kg. Falcon Heavy can launch 63,800 kg to orbit (in fully expendable mode, where they don't recover the stages). The Shuttle could have carried more payload if it hadn't had to dedicate a lot of capacity to supporting the human being on board. With rockets, the further you push something, the more energy it takes. Pushing something the size of a car past the orbit of Mars takes a lot more energy than putting a larger satellite in a lower orbit.