Head to head

Ariane 64 vs Soyuz 2.1b

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 64: 21,900 kg

Soyuz 2.1b: 8,200 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 64	Soyuz 2.1b
Flights flown	3	25
Success rate	100%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	21,900	8,200
Payload to GTO (kg)	11,700	3,250
Length (m)	63	46.3
Diameter (m)	5.4	2.95
Stages	2	3

Ariane 64

Flight record

100% success rate3 of 3 flown

Maiden flight 2026-06-17. Still flying.

Soyuz 2.1b

Flight record

100% success rate25 of 25 flown

2008peak 2021 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2008-07-26. Still flying.

Ariane 64 is built by ArianeGroup of France (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1b is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 64 · Soyuz 2.1b.

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