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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Northrop Grumman | Arianespace / ArianeGroup | LandSpace |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Retired | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters | CH₄ / LOX (Tianque-12 + Tianque-15 upper stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2013 – 2023 | 1996 – 2023 | 2022 |
| Payload to LEO | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration ↑ Best | 6,000 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~4,000 kg |
| Payload to GTO | — | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 41 mas of [1] | 54 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 49.5 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 298 tas of [1] | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 219 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 | 97.5%as of [2]113/117 successes. Failures: V501 (Jun 1996, first flight), V63 (Dec 2002, off-course but payload recovered). 2 partial successes. ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes; ZQ-2 Y1 (Dec 2022) reached orbit on stage 1 but 2nd stage failed; ZQ-2 Y2 (Jul 2023) SUCCESS — world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit |
| Total flights | 12as of [2]Final Antares flight was NG-19 (Aug 1, 2023). NG-20+ moved to Falcon 9 due to Antares RD-181 engine supply disruption (Russia sanctions). | 117as of [2]VA261 (Jul 5, 2023) was the final Ariane 5 flight. Launched the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 2021). ↑ Best | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | Primary launch vehicle for Cygnus ISS cargo missions from 2013–2023. Its Ukrainian-built Zenit-derived first stage and Russian RD-181 engines became untenable after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Northrop switched NG-20 onward to Falcon 9 while Antares 330 (with Firefly Miranda engines) is in development. | Europe's dominant heavy-lift rocket for 27 years. Its most famous payload: the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 25, 2021). Retired Jul 5, 2023 to make way for Ariane 6. Responsible for launching over 250 commercial and scientific payloads including XMM-Newton, Rosetta, and BepiColombo. | The world's first methane-fueled rocket to achieve orbit (July 12, 2023), beating SpaceX Starship to that milestone. A commercial Chinese rocket built by LandSpace with vertically-integrated methane propulsion — the same propellant strategy as Starship, Neutron, and Terran R. |
28 launch vehicles across 10 countries — active, retired, and in development — with primary-source citations from manufacturer user guides and agency press kits. Pure URL state: bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.