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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Long March 6 (incl. 6A / 6C variants) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) / CASC | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | Galactic Energy |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Heavy | Small |
| Propellant | RP-1 / LOX (stages 1–2); N2O4/UDMH (stage 3, base variant) | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| First flight | 2015 | 2001 – 2023 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 1,080 kg to SSO (base Long March 6)as of [1]Long March 6A (4 solid boosters, elongated stage 1): at least 4,000 kg to SSO. Long March 6C: similar class without the boosters. Both variants first flew from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. | 22,400 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. |
| Payload to GTO | — | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 29 m (base variant)as of [1] | 58.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 20 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 103 t (base variant)as of [1] | 712 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 100% (base Long March 6, 15/15)as of [1]6A first flew 2022-03-29, 6C first flew 2024-05-07; both maintain perfect records within their own flight histories as of this date. ↑ Best | ~91%as of [2]~13 mission failures out of ~115 flights in Proton-M variant; highly toxic propellant complicated recovery operations | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] |
| Total flights | 15 (base variant)as of [1] | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 ↑ Best | 23as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | A family of medium-lift launchers from SAST serving China's growing SSO/LEO commercial and government satellite demand, with the 6A and 6C variants adding solid boosters or a simplified expendable configuration respectively. | 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. | Galactic Energy's workhorse small-lift solid rocket — one of the most-flown Chinese commercial launchers — with a sea-launch variant (Ceres-1S, debuted Sep 2023) and a larger Ceres-2 in development. |
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.