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 | NASA / Boeing | JAXA / IHI Aerospace | ULA |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Super Heavy | Small | Heavy |
| Propellant | LH₂ / LOX (RS-25); solid HTPB (SRBs) | Solid (HTPB — all stages) | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (Centaur V) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2022 | 2013 – 2022 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | 95,000 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 590 kgas of [1]500 kg to SSO. Enhanced Epsilon (from E-4) added 700 kg LEO via PBS liquid kick stage. | 27,200 kgas of [1]VC2S configuration (2 solid strap-on boosters) |
| Payload to GTO | 27,000 kgas of [1]Trans-lunar injection (TLI) payload; GTO not a primary design goal ↑ Best | — | 14,400 kgas of [1] |
| Height | 98.1 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 26 mas of [1] | 61.6 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 2,608 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 96 tas of [1] | 591 tas of [1]VC2S configuration |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]2/2: Artemis I uncrewed (Nov 16, 2022) + Artemis II crewed lunar flyby (Apr 1–10, 2026) ↑ Best | 83.3%as of [2]5/6 successes. E-6 (Oct 12, 2022) PBS upper stage failed to ignite, eight satellites lost. Epsilon S (next-generation) ground test anomaly Jan 2023 effectively ended the programme. | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: VC2 Cert-1 (Jan 2024), VC2 Cert-2 (Oct 2024), VC4 USSF-87 (Feb 2026), VC2 USSF-106 (Mar 2026) ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 2as of [2] | 6as of [2] ↑ Best | 4as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$40,000+/kgas of [3]NASA OIG (2023) estimated $4.1B per Artemis SLS/Orion flight; total program $23B+ development cost | — | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Estimated; list pricing not public. Priced below Atlas V, above Ariane 6. ↓ Cheapest |
| Summary | NASA's human deep space launch vehicle for the Artemis programme. Uses heritage RS-25 shuttle main engines (4 per flight, expended). Block 1B with Exploration Upper Stage cancelled Feb 2026; Block 1 will fly through Artemis IV at minimum. | JAXA's small solid-fuel rocket derived from the M-V rocket heritage. Designed for highly autonomous operations — launch preparations could be managed by just 8 people. The sixth and final E-6 mission (Oct 2022) failed when the PBS kick stage didn't ignite; a ground explosion during Epsilon S testing (Jan 2023) ended the programme. | ULA's next-generation medium-heavy rocket replacing Atlas V. Powered by two BE-4 engines on the first stage and a cryogenic Centaur V upper stage. Primary customer is USSF under NSSL Phase 2. |
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.