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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Arianespace / ArianeGroup | CASC / CALT | SpaceX |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Retired | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters | UDMH/N₂O₄ (stages 1–2) + LH₂/LOX (stage 3 YF-75) | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 1996 – 2023 | 1996 | 2018 |
| Payload to LEO | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration | 11,200 kgas of [1] | 63,800 kgas of [1]Expended side boosters. Fully reusable ~27,500 kg LEO. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO | 5,500 kgas of [1]With 4 strap-on liquid boosters (CZ-3B/E enhanced variant) | 26,700 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration; reusable ~8,000 kg ↑ Best |
| Height | 54 mas of [1] | 54.84 mas of [1] | 70 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 777 tas of [1] | 426 tas of [1]Enhanced variant with 4 liquid strap-on boosters | 1,421 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 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. | ~95%as of [2]~6 failures/partial failures out of ~105+ flights; gradually being superseded by Long March 5 for GTO | 100%as of [2]12/12 mission successes through Falcon Heavy ViaSat-3 F3 (Apr 29, 2026) ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 117as of [2]VA261 (Jul 5, 2023) was the final Ariane 5 flight. Launched the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 2021). ↑ Best | ~105as of [2] | 12as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | ~$1,400/kgas of [1]Based on ~$97M list price / 63,800 kg (expendable configuration) ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | 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. | China's primary geostationary transfer vehicle for over 25 years. Launched communications, meteorology, and navigation satellites including Beidou-3 (GEO/IGSO nodes). Being phased out in favour of Long March 5 for heavier GTO payloads as newer domestic communications satellites grow in mass. | Currently the most powerful operational rocket in the world. Three Falcon 9 cores sharing propellant cross-feed produce 5.1 MN of sea-level thrust. Primary mission profile: DoD/NRO GEO payloads and planetary science. |
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.