Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs Soyuz 2.1a

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

Soyuz 2.1a: 7,020 kg

Side by side

12 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	Soyuz 2.1a
Flights flown	41	58
Success rate	100%	98.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	7,020
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	2,810
Payload to SSO (kg)	6,670	4,230
Launch cost	$115M	$80M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$11,396
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	4,149
Length (m)	58.3	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	2.95
Launch mass (t)	590	312
Stages	2	3

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. Retired.

Soyuz 2.1a

Flight record

98.3% success rate57 of 58 flown · 1 failed

2004peak 2023 · 7 flights2026

Maiden flight 2004-11-04. Still flying.

Atlas V 401 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1a is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas V 401 · Soyuz 2.1a.

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