Head to head

Ariane 44LP vs Falcon 9

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

Falcon 9: 22,800 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	Falcon 9
Flights flown	26	697
Success rate	96.2%	99.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	8,000	22,800
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,170	8,300
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,270	7,607
Length (m)	58.4	70
Diameter (m)	3.8	3.65
Launch mass (t)	420	549
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.

Falcon 9

Flight record

99.4% success rate693 of 697 flown · 4 failed

2010peak 2025 · 165 flights2026

Maiden flight 2018-05-11. Still flying.

Ariane 44LP is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Falcon 9 is built by SpaceX of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44LP · Falcon 9.

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