Head to head

Atlas IIA vs Long March 3B/E

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 3B/E: 12,000 kg

Side by side

9 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 3B/E
Flights flown	23	78
Success rate	100%	97.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,580	12,000
Payload to GTO (kg)	2,810	5,500
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,479	5,924
Length (m)	47.54	56.3
Diameter (m)	3.04	3.35
Launch mass (t)	204	456
Stages	3	3

Atlas IIA

Flight record

100% success rate23 of 23 flown

1992peak 1996 · 4 flights2002

Maiden flight 1992-06-10. Retired.

Long March 3B/E

Flight record

97.4% success rate76 of 78 flown · 2 failed

2007peak 2025 · 13 flights2026

Maiden flight 2007-05-13. Still flying.

Atlas IIA is built by Lockheed Martin of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Long March 3B/E is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas IIA · Long March 3B/E.

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