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 | Electron 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA Trust: Agency-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-06-01Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | LandSpace | Rocket Lab | CASC / CALT |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇳🇿 New Zealand / USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | Active | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Heavy |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX (Tianque-12 + Tianque-15 upper stage) | RP-1 / LOX | LH₂ / LOX (YF-77 core) + RP-1/LOX (YF-100 boosters) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2022 | 2017 | 2016 |
| Payload to LEO | 6,000 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~4,000 kg | 300 kgas of [1]~200 kg reusable mode (lower due to propellant reserved for re-entry burn) | 25,000 kgas of [1]CZ-5B variant (no upper stage) delivers 25,000 kg LEO for Tiangong station modules ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | 14,000 kgas of [1]CZ-5 variant (with YF-75D upper stage) ↑ Best |
| Height | 49.5 mas of [1] | 18 mas of [1] | 56.97 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 219 tas of [1] | 13 tas of [1] | 869 tas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 75%as of [2]3/4 full successes; ZQ-2 Y1 (Dec 2022) reached orbit on stage 1 but 2nd stage failed; ZQ-2 Y2 (Jul 2023) SUCCESS — world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit | 95.4%as of [2]83/87 orbital successes; 21/21 success rate in 2025 calendar year per Rocket Lab investor release ↑ Best | 94.1%as of [2]16/17 successes (10 CZ-5 + 7 CZ-5B). Failure: CZ-5 Y2 (Jul 2017, engine anomaly); loss of Shijian-18 satellite. |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | 87as of [2] ↑ Best | 17as of [2] |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$25,000/kgas of [1]Based on ~$7.5M list price / 300 kg payload ↓ Cheapest | — |
| Summary | The world's first methane-fueled rocket to achieve orbit (July 12, 2023), beating SpaceX Starship to that milestone. A commercial Chinese rocket built by LandSpace with vertically-integrated methane propulsion — the same propellant strategy as Starship, Neutron, and Terran R. | The world's most commercially active small launch vehicle, designed and built in-house at Rocket Lab. Rutherford engines are the first flight-proven engines made with additive manufacturing (metal 3D printing). Booster recovery via parachute and helicopter catch (later transitioned to ocean recovery). | China's most powerful operational rocket and the backbone of its flagship space programs. Launched Tianwen-1 to Mars, Chang'e 5 sample return, Chang'e 6 far-side sample return, all Tiangong core and lab modules, and the Xuntian space telescope. The CZ-5B variant delivers entire station modules in a single flight. |
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.