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 | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC | JAXA / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇨🇳 China | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Status | Retired | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Small | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) | LH₂ / LOX (LE-7A first stage + LE-5B second stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2013 – 2022 | 2020 | 2001 – 2025 |
| Payload to LEO | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | 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. | 10,000 kgas of [1]202 configuration (2 SRB-A3 solid strap-ons) ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 4,100 kgas of [1]202 configuration ↑ Best |
| Height | 26 mas of [1] | 50.3 mas of [1] | 53 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 96 tas of [1] | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as of [1] ↑ Best | 285 tas of [1]202 configuration |
| Success rate | 83.3%as of [2]5/6 successes. E-6 (Oct 12, 2022) PBS upper stage failed to ignite, eight satellites lost. Epsilon S (next-generation) ground test anomaly Jan 2023 effectively ended the programme. | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] ↑ Best | 98%as of [2]49/50 successes. Only failure: F6 (Nov 2003, MTSAT-1R lost due to SRB separation anomaly). Retired after Flight 50 (GOSAT-GW, Jun 28, 2025). |
| Total flights | 6as of [2] | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best | 50as of [2]50 flights from 2001–2025. H3 replaces it from 2024 onward. |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | JAXA's small solid-fuel rocket derived from the M-V rocket heritage. Designed for highly autonomous operations — launch preparations could be managed by just 8 people. The sixth and final E-6 mission (Oct 2022) failed when the PBS kick stage didn't ignite; a ground explosion during Epsilon S testing (Jan 2023) ended the programme. | 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. | Japan's flagship medium-lift rocket for 24 years, retiring after an exceptional 49/50 mission success record. Launched the SELENE lunar orbiter (2007), Akatsuki Venus probe (2010), Hayabusa2 (2014), SLIM lunar lander (2023), and the ALOS series Earth observation satellites. |
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.