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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | Rocket Lab | LandSpace |
| Country | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Retired | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Medium | Medium |
| Propellant | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) | CH₄ / LOX | CH₄ / LOX (Tianque-12 + Tianque-15 upper stage) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2001 – 2023 | 2026 | 2022 |
| Payload to LEO | 22,400 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 13,000 kgas of [1]Expendable; ~8,000 kg reusable with first-stage return | 6,000 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~4,000 kg |
| Payload to GTO | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 58.2 mas of [1] ↑ Best | ~40 mas of [1] | 49.5 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 712 tas of [1] ↑ Best | ~481 tas of [1] | 219 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | ~91%as of [2]~13 mission failures out of ~115 flights in Proton-M variant; highly toxic propellant complicated recovery operations ↑ Best | — | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes; ZQ-2 Y1 (Dec 2022) reached orbit on stage 1 but 2nd stage failed; ZQ-2 Y2 (Jul 2023) SUCCESS — world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit |
| Total flights | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 ↑ Best | — | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| 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. | 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. | The world's first methane-fueled rocket to achieve orbit (July 12, 2023), beating SpaceX Starship to that milestone. A commercial Chinese rocket built by LandSpace with vertically-integrated methane propulsion — the same propellant strategy as Starship, Neutron, and Terran R. |
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.