Head to head

Ariane 44L vs Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

Two vehicles in the same payload class. Every figure below comes from the same two sources for both rockets, and a row appears only when both publish the input.

Payload to low Earth orbit

Relative

Ariane 44L: 10,200 kg

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M: 8,200 kg

Side by side

9 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Ariane 44L	Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Flights flown	40	36
Success rate	97.5%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	10,200	8,200
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	3,250
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,395	4,150
Length (m)	58.7	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	10.3
Launch mass (t)	484	313
Stages	2	4

Ariane 44L

Flight record

97.5% success rate39 of 40 flown · 1 failed

1989peak 2002 · 6 flights2003

Maiden flight 1989-06-05. Retired.

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

Flight record

100% success rate36 of 36 flown

2017peak 2021 · 8 flights2026

Maiden flight 2008-07-26. Still flying.

Ariane 44L is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44L · Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M.

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.