Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs H-IIA

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 V 401: 9,050 kg

H-IIA: 10,000 kg

Side by side

11 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Atlas V 401	H-IIA
Flights flown	41	50
Success rate	100%	98%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	10,000
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	4,100
Launch cost	$115M	$90M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$9,000
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	2,260
Length (m)	58.3	53
Diameter (m)	3.8	4
Launch mass (t)	590	285
Stages	2	2

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. Retired.

H-IIA

Flight record

98% success rate49 of 50 flown · 1 failed

2001peak 2017 · 6 flights2025

Maiden flight 2001-08-29. Retired.

Atlas V 401 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).H-IIA is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas V 401 · H-IIA.

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