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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / CALT | Isar Aerospace | SpaceX |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (YF-77 core) + RP-1/LOX (YF-100 boosters) | LOX / kerosene (~80% manufactured in-house) | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | No | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2016 | 2025 | 2010 |
| Payload to LEO | 25,000 kgas of [1]CZ-5B variant (no upper stage) delivers 25,000 kg LEO for Tiangong station modules ↑ Best | 1,000 kgas of [1] | 22,800 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage (expended gives 22,800 kg; reused gives ~15,600 kg) |
| Payload to GTO | 14,000 kgas of [1]CZ-5 variant (with YF-75D upper stage) ↑ Best | — | 8,300 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration. Reusable GTO capacity ~5,500 kg. |
| Height | 56.97 mas of [1] | — | 70 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 869 tas of [1] ↑ Best | — | 549 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 94.1%as of [2]16/17 successes (10 CZ-5 + 7 CZ-5B). Failure: CZ-5 Y2 (Jul 2017, engine anomaly); loss of Shijian-18 satellite. | 0/1 (first flight failed)as of [1]First flight from Andøya Spaceport (2025-03-30): liftoff succeeded but the rocket was terminated ~30 seconds in after a vent valve opened unexpectedly, causing loss of attitude control. Second flight ('Onward and Upward') repeatedly delayed through 2026 (weather, a safety-zone fishing vessel, a composite pressure vessel leak, then off-nominal fluid-system behavior as of 2026-06-15) — not yet flown as of this research. | 99.5%as of [2]~665/668 full successes (Falcon family incl. Falcon Heavy); 500th landing Sep 2025 ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 17as of [2] | 1as of [1] | ~668as of [2]Falcon family total (Falcon 9 + Falcon Heavy) per launch log; 75 in 2026 (74 F9 + 1 FH) as of Jun 25, 2026 ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | ~$2,720/kgas of [1]Based on $67M list price / 22,800 kg LEO (expendable) ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | China's most powerful operational rocket and the backbone of its flagship space programs. Launched Tianwen-1 to Mars, Chang'e 5 sample return, Chang'e 6 far-side sample return, all Tiangong core and lab modules, and the Xuntian space telescope. The CZ-5B variant delivers entire station modules in a single flight. | Germany's first orbital-class launcher attempt; its first flight in March 2025 was Western Europe's first orbital launch attempt from the European mainland. A qualification second flight carrying CubeSats and ESA experiments has slipped repeatedly through 2026. | 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. |
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.