Head to head

Atlas V 401 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 V 401: 9,050 kg

Long March 3B/E: 12,000 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	Long March 3B/E
Flights flown	41	78
Success rate	100%	97.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	12,000
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	5,500
Launch cost	$115M	$70M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$5,833
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	5,924
Length (m)	58.3	56.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	3.35
Launch mass (t)	590	456
Stages	2	3

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. 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 V 401 is built by United Launch Alliance 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 V 401 · 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.