Head to head

Ariane 44LP vs Atlas V 551

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 44LP: 8,000 kg

Atlas V 551: 18,850 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 44LP	Atlas V 551
Flights flown	26	23
Success rate	96.2%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	8,000	18,850
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,170	8,890
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,270	12,269
Length (m)	58.4	59.7
Diameter (m)	3.8	3.8
Launch mass (t)	420	573
Stages	2	2

Ariane 44LP

Flight record

96.2% success rate25 of 26 flown · 1 failed

1988peak 1994 · 3 flights2001

Maiden flight 1988-06-15. Retired.

Atlas V 551

Flight record

100% success rate23 of 23 flown

2006peak 2025 · 5 flights2026

Maiden flight 2006-01-19. Retired.

Ariane 44LP is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Atlas V 551 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44LP · Atlas V 551.

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