Head to head

Ariane 44LP vs Soyuz U

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 U: 6,900 kg

Side by side

7 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 U
Flights flown	26	714
Success rate	96.2%	97.2%
Payload to LEO (kg)	8,000	6,900
Length (m)	58.4	51.1
Diameter (m)	3.8	2.95
Launch mass (t)	420	313
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 U

Flight record

97.2% success rate694 of 714 flown · 20 failed

1973peak 1979 · 47 flights2017

Maiden flight 1973-05-18. Retired.

Ariane 44LP is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz U is built by Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) of Russia.

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

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