Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat

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: 8,200 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 2.1b/Fregat
Flights flown	41	26
Success rate	100%	92.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	8,200
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	3,250
Payload to SSO (kg)	6,670	4,900
Launch cost	$115M	$80M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$9,756
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	4,150
Length (m)	58.3	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	2.95
Launch mass (t)	590	312
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

Flight record

92.3% success rate24 of 26 flown · 2 failed

2006peak 2011 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2006-12-27. Still flying.

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

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

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