Head to head

Ariane 64 vs Space Shuttle

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

Space Shuttle: 27,500 kg

Side by side

6 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Ariane 64	Space Shuttle
Flights flown	3	135
Success rate	100%	98.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	21,900	27,500
Length (m)	63	56.1
Diameter (m)	5.4	8
Stages	2	2

Ariane 64

Flight record

100% success rate3 of 3 flown

Maiden flight 2026-06-17. Still flying.

Space Shuttle

Flight record

98.5% success rate133 of 135 flown · 2 failed

1981peak 1985 · 9 flights2011

Maiden flight 1981-04-12. Retired.

Ariane 64 is built by ArianeGroup of France (company profile on Space Index).Space Shuttle is built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 64 · Space Shuttle.

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