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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Firefly Aerospace | NASA / Boeing | Khrunichev / Roscosmos |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Small | Super Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | LH₂ / LOX (RS-25); solid HTPB (SRBs) | RP-1 / LOX (RD-191, all 5 modules) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2021 | 2022 | 2014 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg | 95,000 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 24,500 kgas of [1]With KVTK cryogenic upper stage (planned); Briz-M gives ~5,400 kg GTO |
| Payload to GTO | — | 27,000 kgas of [1]Trans-lunar injection (TLI) payload; GTO not a primary design goal ↑ Best | 5,400 kgas of [1]Briz-M upper stage. KVTK would raise this to ~7,500 kg. |
| Height | 29 mas of [1] | 98.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 64 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 54 tas of [1] | 2,608 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 773 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 | 100%as of [2]2/2: Artemis I uncrewed (Nov 16, 2022) + Artemis II crewed lunar flyby (Apr 1–10, 2026) ↑ Best | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: Dec 2014, Dec 2020, Mar 2023, Apr 2024 ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 7as of [2] ↑ Best | 2as of [2] | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO ↓ Cheapest | ~$40,000+/kgas of [3]NASA OIG (2023) estimated $4.1B per Artemis SLS/Orion flight; total program $23B+ development cost | — |
| Summary | Firefly Aerospace's two-stage small-lift rocket powered by four Reaver engines at sea level and one Lightning engine in vacuum. Also provides launch services for NASA's CLPS programme (Blue Ghost lander launched on Falcon 9). FLTA007 'Stairway to Seven' succeeded Mar 11, 2026. | NASA's human deep space launch vehicle for the Artemis programme. Uses heritage RS-25 shuttle main engines (4 per flight, expended). Block 1B with Exploration Upper Stage cancelled Feb 2026; Block 1 will fly through Artemis IV at minimum. | Russia's new-generation heavy-lift rocket built entirely of Russian-manufactured components — a political priority after Proton-M's dependence on Ukrainian components. Five URM-1 universal rocket modules share the same propellant (RP-1/LOX), unlike Proton-M's toxic hypergolics. Flight rate remains very low. |
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.