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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) / CASC | United Launch Alliance | Khrunichev / Roscosmos |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Status | Active | Retired | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX | LH2 / LOX | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2024 | 2004 – 2024 | 2001 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 12,000 kgas of [1]At 200 km altitude; 10,000 kg at 300 km. | 28,370 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 22,400 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage ↑ Best |
| Height | 62 mas of [1] | 70.7 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 58.2 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 433 tas of [1] | 733 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 712 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 100% (6/6)as of [1] ↑ Best | 93.75% (15/16 full success, 1 partial failure)as of [1] | ~91%as of [2]~13 mission failures out of ~115 flights in Proton-M variant; highly toxic propellant complicated recovery operations |
| Total flights | 6as of [1]All six flights deployed Guowang (China SatNet) internet-constellation satellites, exclusively from Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. | 16as of [1] | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | A medium-lift, kerosene/LOX launcher built specifically to deploy China's Guowang mega-constellation at high cadence from Wenchang's new commercial pads. | ULA's triple-common-booster-core heavy-lift launcher, retired 2024-04-09 after its final flight; superseded by Vulcan Centaur, which ULA states offers similar heavy-lift capability at lower cost. | Russia's dominant heavy-lift rocket for GEO comsats and planetary missions from 1965 (Proton family) through 2023 (Proton-M). Notorious for its hypergolic propellant — a highly toxic UDMH/N₂O₄ combination that caused environmental concerns at Baikonur. Replaced by Angara A5. |
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.