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The global launch market reached $14.1 billion in 2024 — up 34% since 2021.
| Attribute | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | LandSpace | Relativity Space | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Heavy | Medium |
| Propellant | CH₄ / LOX (Tianque-12 + Tianque-15 upper stage) | LOX / methane | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 2022 | 2026 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 6,000 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~4,000 kg | 33,500 kg expendable / 23,500 kg with a reusable first stageas of [1]First flight targeted 2026 (stated plan, not yet confirmed flown as of this research). ↑ Best | 8,100 kgas of [1]5,000 kg to 700 km SSO (base); the enlarged-second-stage 8A variant (first flew 2025-02-11) lifts 7,000 kg to the same SSO reference orbit. |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 49.5 mas of [1] | 87 mas of [1] ↑ Best | 50.3 mas of [1] |
| Liftoff mass | 219 tas of [1] | — | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as 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 | — | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | 4as of [2] | — | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | ~$55M per launch (estimate)as of [1]Total launch price estimate, not a per-kg figure. ↓ 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. | Relativity Space's Falcon-9-class successor to Terran 1, partially 3D-printed, with 13 Aeon R methalox engines on a reusable first stage; second stage and fairing expendable. | A two-stage medium-lift launcher originally designed with a reusable combined-booster-recovery concept in mind, though currently operational vehicles fly expendable. Exclusively from Wenchang. |
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.