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| Attribute | Long March 6 (incl. 6A / 6C variants) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | Blue Origin | SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) / CASC |
| Country | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Retired | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (BE-3U second stage) | RP-1 / LOX (stages 1–2); N2O4/UDMH (stage 3, base variant) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| First flight | 2001 – 2023 | 2025 | 2015 |
| Payload to LEO | 22,400 kgas of [1] | 45,000 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage; expendable ~45,000 kg. GTO (reusable) ~13,000 kg. ↑ Best | 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. |
| Payload to GTO | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage | 13,000 kgas of [1]Reusable first stage configuration ↑ Best | — |
| Height | 58.2 mas of [1] | 98 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 29 m (base variant)as of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 712 tas of [1] | 1,016 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 103 t (base variant)as 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 | 67%as of [2]NG-1 (Jan 2025) full mission success, booster lost; NG-2 (Nov 2025) success + first Jacklyn booster landing; NG-3 (Apr 2026) partial — payload in wrong orbit, FAA grounded | 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 |
| Total flights | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 ↑ Best | 3as of [2] | 15 (base variant)as of [1] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$1,500/kgas of [1]Estimated from ~$67M commercial pricing / 45,000 kg payload capacity ↓ 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. | Blue Origin's first orbital rocket. The 7-meter payload fairing is the widest of any current production rocket. NG-2 (Nov 2025) achieved the company's first booster landing on drone ship Jacklyn. On May 28, 2026 a vehicle was destroyed in a prelaunch static-fire explosion at LC-36. Damage proved less severe than first feared — Blue Origin (CEO Dave Limp) reported the propellant tanks and water tower were undamaged, the launch tower repairable rather than replaced, and stored first/second stages intact, with LC-36 debris cleared within ~9 days. The company has started reconstruction and now targets a return to flight before the end of 2026 (a timeline some observers call aggressive). | 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. |
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.