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 | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) | ExPace (CASIC subsidiary) |
| Country | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Heavy | Small | Small |
| Propellant | LNG / LOX (BE-4); LH₂ / LOX (Centaur V) | Solid (3 stages) + liquid-fueled 4th stage | Solid (3 stages) + liquid upper stage |
| Reusable | No | No | No |
| Stages | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| First flight | 2024 | 2017 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 27,200 kgas of [1]VC2S configuration (2 solid strap-on boosters) ↑ Best | 400 kgas of [1] | 1,500 kgas of [1] |
| Payload to GTO | 14,400 kgas of [1] ↑ Best | — | — |
| Height | 61.6 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 19.4 mas of [1] | — |
| Liftoff mass | 591 tas of [1]VC2S configuration ↑ Best | 30 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable — road-mobile solid launcher. | 78 tas of [1]Transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) capable. |
| Success rate | 100%as of [2]4/4 payloads delivered: Cert-1 (Jan 2024), Cert-2 (Oct 2024, SRB nozzle anomaly), USSF-106 (Aug 13, 2025 — flight 3, first NSSL mission), USSF-87 (Feb 12, 2026 — flight 4, second SRB nozzle anomaly; Space Force paused Vulcan launches, RTF ~late 2026) | ~85% (23 successes, 3 failures, 1 partial failure of 27)as of [1] ↑ Best | 80% (4/5)as of [1]Debut flight (2020-07-10) failed; returned to flight 2022-12-07 successfully. |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | 27as of [1] ↑ Best | 5as of [1] |
| 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. NSSL-certified March 2025; first NSSL mission USSF-106 flew Aug 13, 2025. Paused by the Space Force after the USSF-87 SRB nozzle anomaly (Feb 12, 2026), with return to flight expected ~late 2026. | CASIC's road-mobile, quick-response small solid launcher, operated commercially by ExPace since 2017 — one of the higher-cadence Chinese small-lift vehicles. | The larger sibling of Kuaizhou-1A, roughly 3.75x the payload class, road-mobile and solid-fueled, recovering commercial cadence after a 2020 debut failure. |
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.