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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Electron 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-28Remove × | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Rocket Lab | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC |
| Country | 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | Solid (3 stages) + liquid upper stage | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 2017 | 2020 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 300 kgas of [1]~200 kg reusable mode (lower due to propellant reserved for re-entry burn) | 1,500 kgas of [1] | 8,100 kgas of [1]5,000 kg to 700 km SSO (base); the enlarged-second-stage 8A variant (first flew 2025-02-11) lifts 7,000 kg to the same SSO reference orbit. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 18 mas of [1] | — | 50.3 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 13 tas of [1] | 78 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable. | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 95.6%as of [3]87 successes / 91 Electron-family flights. Orbital Electron alone: 78/82 (95.1%). HASTE: 9/9. On a 50-flight success streak since December 2023; 21/21 in the 2025 calendar year. | 80% (4/5)as of [1]Debut flight (2020-07-10) failed; returned to flight 2022-12-07 successfully. | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 91as of [3]91 Electron-family flights: 82 orbital plus 9 suborbital HASTE. Reconciled against three 10-K cumulative checkpoints (38/54/75 successes through 2023/2024/2025). Rocket Lab counts HASTE inside its own 'Electron launched N times' figure. | 5as of [1] | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$25,000/kgas of [1]Based on ~$7.5M list price / 300 kg payload ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | The world's most commercially active small launch vehicle, designed and built in-house at Rocket Lab. Rutherford engines are the first flight-proven engines made with additive manufacturing (metal 3D printing). Booster recovery via parachute and helicopter catch (later transitioned to ocean recovery). | The larger sibling of Kuaizhou-1A, roughly 3.75x the payload class, road-mobile and solid-fueled, recovering commercial cadence after a 2020 debut failure. | A two-stage medium-lift launcher originally designed with a reusable combined-booster-recovery concept in mind, though currently operational vehicles fly expendable. Exclusively from Wenchang. |
48 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.