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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Arianespace / ArianeGroup | ULA | Khrunichev / Roscosmos |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Retired | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (Centaur V) | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 1996 – 2023 | 2024 | 2001 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration | 27,200 kgas of [1]VC2S configuration (2 solid strap-on boosters) ↑ Best | 22,400 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO | 14,400 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage |
| Height | 54 mas of [1] | 61.6 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 58.2 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 591 tas of [1]VC2S configuration | 712 tas of [1] |
| 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. | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: VC2 Cert-1 (Jan 2024), VC2 Cert-2 (Oct 2024), VC4 USSF-87 (Feb 2026), VC2 USSF-106 (Mar 2026) ↑ Best | ~91%as of [2]~13 mission failures out of ~115 flights in Proton-M variant; highly toxic propellant complicated recovery operations |
| Total flights | 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] | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Estimated; list pricing not public. Priced below Atlas V, above Ariane 6. ↓ 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. | ULA's next-generation medium-heavy rocket replacing Atlas V. Powered by two BE-4 engines on the first stage and a cryogenic Centaur V upper stage. Primary customer is USSF under NSSL Phase 2. | Russia's dominant heavy-lift rocket for GEO comsats and planetary missions from 1965 (Proton family) through 2023 (Proton-M). Notorious for its hypergolic propellant — a highly toxic UDMH/N₂O₄ combination that caused environmental concerns at Baikonur. Replaced by Angara A5. |
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.