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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | SpaceX | Arianespace / ArianeGroup |
| Country | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | Retired | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Heavy |
| Propellant | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) | RP-1 / LOX | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2) + solid HTPB boosters |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2001 – 2023 | 2010 | 1996 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 22,400 kgas of [1] | 22,800 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage (expended gives 22,800 kg; reused gives ~15,600 kg) ↑ Best | 21,000 kgas of [1]Ariane 5 ECA configuration |
| Payload to GTO | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage | 8,300 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration. Reusable GTO capacity ~5,500 kg. | 10,865 kgas of [1]ECA configuration. Ariane 5 ES (ATV) variant: 21,000 kg LEO ↑ Best |
| Height | 58.2 mas of [1] | 70 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 54 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 712 tas of [1] | 549 tas of [1] | 777 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | ~91%as of [2]~13 mission failures out of ~115 flights in Proton-M variant; highly toxic propellant complicated recovery operations | 99.5%as of [2]634/637 full successes; Block 5 alone 580/581 = 99.8% ↑ Best | 97.5%as of [2]113/117 successes. Failures: V501 (Jun 1996, first flight), V63 (Dec 2002, off-course but payload recovered). 2 partial successes. |
| Total flights | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 | 637as of [2] ↑ Best | 117as of [2]VA261 (Jul 5, 2023) was the final Ariane 5 flight. Launched the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 2021). |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$2,720/kgas of [1]Based on $67M list price / 22,800 kg LEO (expendable) ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | 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. | 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. | Europe's dominant heavy-lift rocket for 27 years. Its most famous payload: the James Webb Space Telescope (Dec 25, 2021). Retired Jul 5, 2023 to make way for Ariane 6. Responsible for launching over 250 commercial and scientific payloads including XMM-Newton, Rosetta, and BepiColombo. |
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.