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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | SpaceX | CASC / SAST | SpaceX |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2010 | 1992 | 2018 |
| Payload to LEO | 22,800 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage (expended gives 22,800 kg; reused gives ~15,600 kg) | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg | 63,800 kgas of [1]Expended side boosters. Fully reusable ~27,500 kg LEO. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | 8,300 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration. Reusable GTO capacity ~5,500 kg. | — | 26,700 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration; reusable ~8,000 kg ↑ Best |
| Height | 70 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 41.06 mas of [1] | 70 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 549 tas of [1] | 232 tas of [1] | 1,421 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 99.5%as of [2]634/637 full successes; Block 5 alone 580/581 = 99.8% | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) | 100%as of [2]12/12 mission successes through Falcon Heavy ViaSat-3 F3 (Apr 29, 2026) ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 637as of [2] ↑ Best | ~78as of [2] | 12as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$2,720/kgas of [1]Based on $67M list price / 22,800 kg LEO (expendable) | — | ~$1,400/kgas of [1]Based on ~$97M list price / 63,800 kg (expendable configuration) ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | The world's most frequently flown orbital rocket. Block 5 first stages have landed over 280 times and reflown up to 23 times. Backbone of Starlink and commercial crewed launches. | China's most-used sun-synchronous and polar orbit workhorse for small-to-medium military and commercial Earth observation satellites. Launched from Jiuquan and Taiyuan. Uses storable hypergolic propellants for high launch-readiness but produces toxic exhaust. | 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.