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 | Rocket Lab | Galactic Energy | Firefly Aerospace |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | In Development | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Small |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 2026 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Payload to LEO | 13,000 kgas of [1]Reusable configuration with downrange barge landing — this is the single payload figure Rocket Lab publishes. ~15,000 kg expendable. ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 1,030 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~630 kg |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 43 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 20 mas of [1] | 29 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | ~481 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] | 54 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | — | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] ↑ Best | 43%as of [2]3/7 full successes (FLTA003 Jul 2023, FLTA005 Dec 2024, FLTA007 Mar 2026) + 2 partial successes + 2 failures through FLTA007 |
| Total flights | — | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | 7as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | ~$14,500/kgas of [1]Based on ~$15M list price / 1,030 kg LEO |
| Summary | Rocket Lab's medium-lift reusable rocket targeting the $100B constellation replenishment market. Uses a 'hungry hippo' fairings design that opens at the top rather than traditional clamshell separation. First flight delayed to Q4 2026 after a Jan 2026 propellant tank test anomaly. | 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. | 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. |
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.