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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Arianespace / ArianeGroup | LandSpace | ULA |
| Country | 🇪🇺 Europe | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Retired | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters | CH₄ / LOX (Tianque-12 + Tianque-15 upper stage) | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (Centaur V) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 1996 – 2023 | 2022 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration | 6,000 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~4,000 kg | 27,200 kgas of [1]VC2S configuration (2 solid strap-on boosters) ↑ Best |
| 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 |
| Height | 54 mas of [1] | 49.5 mas of [1] | 61.6 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 219 tas of [1] | 591 tas of [1]VC2S configuration |
| 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. | 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 | 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 |
| 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] | 4as of [2] |
| 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. | 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. | 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. |
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.