Head to head

Atlas IIA vs Long March 2C

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

Atlas IIA: 6,580 kg

Long March 2C: 3,850 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	Atlas IIA	Long March 2C
Flights flown	23	66
Success rate	100%	98.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,580	3,850
Length (m)	47.54	42
Diameter (m)	3.04	3.35
Launch mass (t)	204	233
Stages	3	2

Atlas IIA

Flight record

100% success rate23 of 23 flown

1992peak 1996 · 4 flights2002

Maiden flight 1992-06-10. Retired.

Long March 2C

Flight record

98.5% success rate65 of 66 flown · 1 failed

1982peak 2023 · 6 flights2026

Maiden flight 1982-09-09. Still flying.

Atlas IIA is built by Lockheed Martin of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Long March 2C is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas IIA · Long March 2C.

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