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 | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | Arianespace / ArianeGroup |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇪🇺 Europe |
| Status | In Development | Retired | Active |
| Vehicle class | Super Heavy | Heavy | Heavy |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic — all stages) | LH₂ / LOX (Vulcain 2.1 + Vinci) |
| Reusable | Yes | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| First flight | 2023 | 2001 – 2023 | 2024 |
| Payload to LEO | ~150,000 kgas of [1]SpaceX projected max payload in fully expendable mode; ~100,000 kg reusable ↑ Best | 22,400 kgas of [1] | 21,650 kgas of [1]Ariane 62 (2 boosters) / Ariane 64 (4 boosters); 64 offers higher GTO capacity |
| Payload to GTO | ~21,000 kgas of [1]Reusable configuration estimate ↑ Best | 6,290 kgas of [1]With Briz-M upper stage | 11,500 kgas of [1]Ariane 64 configuration. Ariane 62 delivers ~4,500 kg to GTO. |
| Height | 121 mas of [1]Version 2 (V2) full stack Ship + Super Heavy | 58.2 mas of [1] | 56–63 mas of [1]56 m (Ariane 62) / 63 m (Ariane 64 with 4 solid boosters) ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | ~5,000 tas of [1] | 712 tas of [1] | 530–860 tas of [1]530 t (A62) / 860 t (A64) ↑ Best |
| Success rate | ~55%as of [2]IFT-1 through IFT-11; ~6 complete mission successes, remainder partial or vehicle lost. No orbital payload deployment yet. | ~91%as of [2]~13 mission failures out of ~115 flights in Proton-M variant; highly toxic propellant complicated recovery operations | 100%as of [2]7/7 missions through VA268 Amazon Leo (Apr 30, 2026); Ariane 64 debut Feb 12, 2026 ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 11as of [2]IFT-1 (Apr 2023) through IFT-11 (May 2026 target). IFT-10 (Aug 2025) achieved full mission: booster caught + Ship splash-down. | ~115as of [2]Effectively retired ~2023 with Russian government replacing it with Angara A5 ↑ Best | 7as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$600/kgas of [1]SpaceX target figure; not yet achieved in operational configuration ↓ Cheapest | — | ~$7,500/kgas of [1]Estimate based on ~$115M A62 / ~$165M A64 list prices |
| Summary | Largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. Super Heavy booster uses 33 Raptor engines. V3 Ship introduced Aug 2025. Mechazilla caught the booster on IFT-5 (Oct 2024) and IFT-10 (Aug 2025). Primary vehicle for Artemis HLS lunar landing (Artemis III planned 2026). | 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. | Europe's flagship launcher replacing Ariane 5. The Vinci re-ignitable upper stage enables multi-orbit missions and controlled deorbit. Primary customers: Amazon Kuiper, European government payloads, and ESA science missions. |
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.