Head to head

Atlas IIA vs Long March 2D

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 2D: 3,500 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	Atlas IIA	Long March 2D
Flights flown	23	101
Success rate	100%	99%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,580	3,500
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,479	2,962
Length (m)	47.54	38.3
Diameter (m)	3.04	3.35
Launch mass (t)	204	232
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 2D

Flight record

99% success rate100 of 101 flown · 1 failed

1992peak 2022 · 14 flights2026

Maiden flight 1992-08-09. Still flying.

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

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

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