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 | SpaceX | Galactic Energy | SpaceX |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | In Development | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Super Heavy | Small | Heavy |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX | Solid (stages 1–3) + hydrazine liquid upper stage | RP-1 / LOX |
| Reusable | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| First flight | 2023 | 2020 | 2018 |
| Payload to LEO | ~150,000 kgas of [1]SpaceX projected max payload in fully expendable mode; ~100,000 kg reusable ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1]300 kg to SSO. | 63,800 kgas of [1]Expended side boosters. Fully reusable ~27,500 kg LEO. |
| Payload to GTO | ~21,000 kgas of [1]Reusable configuration estimate | — | 26,700 kgas of [1]Expendable configuration; reusable ~8,000 kg ↑ Best |
| Height | 121 mas of [1]Version 2 (V2) full stack Ship + Super Heavy ↑ Best | 20 mas of [1] | 70 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | ~5,000 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 33 tas of [1] | 1,421 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | ~50%as of [2]Flights 1-12; ~6 complete mission successes (incl. Flights 10 and 11), remainder partial or vehicle lost. First payload deploy on Flight 10 (Aug 2025); Flight 12 (V3 debut) lost during descent. | 91.3% (21/23)as of [1] | 100%as of [2]12/12 mission successes through Falcon Heavy ViaSat-3 F3 (Apr 29, 2026) ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 12as of [2]Flight 1 (Apr 2023) through Flight 12 (May 22, 2026 — V3 debut from Pad 2). Flight 11 (Oct 13, 2025) closed out Block 2. | 23as of [1] ↑ Best | 12as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$600/kgas of [1]SpaceX target figure; not yet achieved in operational configuration | ~$4.5M per launchas of [1]Total launch price, not a per-kg figure. ↓ Cheapest | ~$1,400/kgas of [1]Based on ~$97M list price / 63,800 kg (expendable configuration) |
| Summary | Largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. Super Heavy booster uses 33 Raptor engines. V3 Ship debuted on Flight 12 (May 22, 2026) from Starbase Pad 2 — it reached space but broke up at the ocean surface, and the vehicle is grounded pending an FAA mishap review. Mechazilla booster catches demonstrated from Flight 5 (Oct 2024) onward; first payload deploy on Flight 10 (Aug 2025). Primary vehicle for the Artemis HLS lunar lander (Artemis III LEO docking demo 2027, first landing on Artemis IV). | 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. | Currently the most powerful operational rocket in the world. Three Falcon 9 cores sharing propellant cross-feed produce 5.1 MN of sea-level thrust. Primary mission profile: DoD/NRO GEO payloads and planetary science. |
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.