Head to head

Atlas SLV-3D Centaur 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-3D Centaur: 800 kg

Pegasus XL: 443 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 SLV-3D Centaur	Pegasus XL
Flights flown	32	32
Success rate	93.8%	90.6%
Payload to LEO (kg)	800	443
Length (m)	21	17.6
Diameter (m)	3.05	1.27
Launch mass (t)	120	23
Stages	2	3

Atlas SLV-3D Centaur

Flight record

93.8% success rate30 of 32 flown · 2 failed

1973peak 1978 · 7 flights1983

Maiden flight 1973-04-06. 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-3D Centaur is built by Convair of the United States (company profile on Space Index).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-3D Centaur · 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.