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 | ULA | Khrunichev / Roscosmos | Northrop Grumman |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇷🇺 Russia | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Status | Active | Active | Retired |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (Centaur V) | RP-1 / LOX (RD-191, all 5 modules) | RP-1 / LOX (RD-181 first stage) |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2024 | 2014 | 2013 – 2023 |
| Payload to LEO | 27,200 kgas of [1]VC2S configuration (2 solid strap-on boosters) ↑ Best | 24,500 kgas of [1]With KVTK cryogenic upper stage (planned); Briz-M gives ~5,400 kg GTO | 8,000 kgas of [1]Antares 230+ configuration; primarily used for ~3,500–3,800 kg Cygnus cargo |
| Payload to GTO | 14,400 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | 5,400 kgas of [1]Briz-M upper stage. KVTK would raise this to ~7,500 kg. | — |
| Height | 61.6 mas of [1] | 64 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 41 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 591 tas of [1]VC2S configuration | 773 tas of [1] ↑ Best | 298 tas of [1] |
| Success rate | 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 | 100%as of [2]4/4 mission successes: Dec 2014, Dec 2020, Mar 2023, Apr 2024 ↑ Best | 91.7%as of [2]11/12 successes; Orb-3 (CRS-3) exploded at liftoff Oct 2014 |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | 4as of [2] | 12as of [2]Final Antares flight was NG-19 (Aug 1, 2023). NG-20+ moved to Falcon 9 due to Antares RD-181 engine supply disruption (Russia sanctions). ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | ~$5,500/kgas of [1]Estimated; list pricing not public. Priced below Atlas V, above Ariane 6. ↓ Cheapest | — | — |
| Summary | 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. | Russia's new-generation heavy-lift rocket built entirely of Russian-manufactured components — a political priority after Proton-M's dependence on Ukrainian components. Five URM-1 universal rocket modules share the same propellant (RP-1/LOX), unlike Proton-M's toxic hypergolics. Flight rate remains very low. | Primary launch vehicle for Cygnus ISS cargo missions from 2013–2023. Its Ukrainian-built Zenit-derived first stage and Russian RD-181 engines became untenable after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Northrop switched NG-20 onward to Falcon 9 while Antares 330 (with Firefly Miranda engines) is in development. |
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.