Head to head

Atlas SLV-3 Agena D vs Pegasus XL

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 SLV-3 Agena D: 1,000 kg

Pegasus XL: 443 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 SLV-3 Agena D	Pegasus XL
Flights flown	48	32
Success rate	91.7%	90.6%
Payload to LEO (kg)	1,000	443
Liftoff thrust (kN)	1,340	580
Length (m)	36	17.6
Diameter (m)	3	1.27
Launch mass (t)	155	23
Stages	2	3

Atlas SLV-3 Agena D

Flight record

91.7% success rate44 of 48 flown · 4 failed

1964peak 1966 · 24 flights1967

Maiden flight 1964-08-14. Retired.

Pegasus XL

Flight record

90.6% success rate29 of 32 flown · 3 failed

1994peak 1996 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 1994-06-27. Still flying.

Atlas SLV-3 Agena D is built by Convair of the United States.Pegasus XL is built by Orbital Sciences Corporation of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas SLV-3 Agena D · Pegasus XL.

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