Head to head

Ariane 44LP vs Vega-C

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

Vega-C: 3,300 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 44LP	Vega-C
Flights flown	26	8
Success rate	96.2%	87.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	8,000	3,300
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,270	2,974
Length (m)	58.4	34.8
Diameter (m)	3.8	3
Launch mass (t)	420	210
Stages	2	4

Ariane 44LP

Flight record

96.2% success rate25 of 26 flown · 1 failed

1988peak 1994 · 3 flights2001

Maiden flight 1988-06-15. Retired.

Vega-C

Flight record

87.5% success rate7 of 8 flown · 1 failed

2022peak 2026 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2022-07-13. Still flying.

Ariane 44LP is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).Vega-C is built by Avio S.p.A of Italy (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44LP · Vega-C.

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