Head to head

Ariane 44LP vs Soyuz 2.1a

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

Soyuz 2.1a: 7,020 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	Soyuz 2.1a
Flights flown	26	58
Success rate	96.2%	98.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	8,000	7,020
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,170	2,810
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,270	4,149
Length (m)	58.4	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	2.95
Launch mass (t)	420	312
Stages	2	3

Ariane 44LP

Flight record

96.2% success rate25 of 26 flown · 1 failed

1988peak 1994 · 3 flights2001

Maiden flight 1988-06-15. Retired.

Soyuz 2.1a

Flight record

98.3% success rate57 of 58 flown · 1 failed

2004peak 2023 · 7 flights2026

Maiden flight 2004-11-04. Still flying.

Ariane 44LP is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1a is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44LP · Soyuz 2.1a.

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