Pick up to 4 launch vehicles to compare side-by-side. State lives in the URL — share the link and the comparison loads exactly as you left it.
The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Northrop Grumman | NASA / Boeing | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Retired | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Super Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) | LH₂ / LOX (RS-25); solid HTPB (SRBs) | LH₂ / LOX (LE-9 first stage + LE-5B-3 second stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2013 – 2023 | 2022 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo | 95,000 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 16,500 kgas of [1]H3-24 (2 SRB-3 + 4 LE-9 engines) configuration. H3-30 baseline: 16,500 kg. |
| Payload to GTO | — | 27,000 kgas of [1]Trans-lunar injection (TLI) payload; GTO not a primary design goal ↑ Best | 6,500 kgas of [1] |
| Height | 41 mas of [1] | 98.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 57 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 298 tas of [1] | 2,608 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 574 tas of [1]H3-24S configuration |
| Success rate | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 | 100%as of [2]2/2: Artemis I uncrewed (Nov 16, 2022) + Artemis II crewed lunar flyby (Apr 1–10, 2026) ↑ Best | 75%as of [2]~6/8 successes. TF1 (Feb 2023) first flight failure (LE-9 ignition issue, DAICHI-3 lost). F8 (Dec 23, 2025) QZS-5 lost to 2nd-stage relight anomaly. |
| 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). ↑ Best | 2as of [2] | 8as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$40,000+/kgas of [3]NASA OIG (2023) estimated $4.1B per Artemis SLS/Orion flight; total program $23B+ development cost | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Target unit price ¥5B (~$35M at ¥145/$); roughly half H-IIA's per-launch cost ↓ Cheapest |
| 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. | NASA's human deep space launch vehicle for the Artemis programme. Uses heritage RS-25 shuttle main engines (4 per flight, expended). Block 1B with Exploration Upper Stage cancelled Feb 2026; Block 1 will fly through Artemis IV at minimum. | Japan's next-generation flagship rocket designed to halve H-IIA costs. Uses three LE-9 engines burning liquid hydrogen — the highest-performing expander-cycle engines in the world. First successful flight was TF2 (Feb 17, 2024). HTV-X1 cargo mission to ISS (Oct 2025) demonstrated operational readiness. |
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.