Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

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 2.1b/Fregat-M: 8,200 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	Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Flights flown	41	36
Success rate	100%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	8,200
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	3,250
Launch cost	$115M	$48.5M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$5,915
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	4,150
Length (m)	58.3	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	10.3
Launch mass (t)	590	313
Stages	2	4

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. Retired.

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

Flight record

100% success rate36 of 36 flown

2017peak 2021 · 8 flights2026

Maiden flight 2008-07-26. Still flying.

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

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas V 401 · Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M.

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