Head to head

Ariane 44L vs Space Shuttle

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

Space Shuttle: 27,500 kg

Side by side

8 comparable figures

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

Metric	Ariane 44L	Space Shuttle
Flights flown	40	135
Success rate	97.5%	98.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	10,200	27,500
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,395	28,200
Length (m)	58.7	56.1
Diameter (m)	3.8	8
Launch mass (t)	484	2030
Stages	2	2

Ariane 44L

Flight record

97.5% success rate39 of 40 flown · 1 failed

1989peak 2002 · 6 flights2003

Maiden flight 1989-06-05. Retired.

Space Shuttle

Flight record

98.5% success rate133 of 135 flown · 2 failed

1981peak 1985 · 9 flights2011

Maiden flight 1981-04-12. Retired.

Ariane 44L is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Space Shuttle is built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44L · Space Shuttle.

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