Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs Soyuz-U

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-U: 7,050 kg

Side by side

7 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-U
Flights flown	41	71
Success rate	100%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	7,050
Length (m)	58.3	34.54
Diameter (m)	3.8	2.95
Launch mass (t)	590	298
Stages	2	2

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. Retired.

Soyuz-U

Flight record

100% success rate71 of 71 flown

1982peak 1987 · 10 flights1995

Maiden flight 1982-12-23. Retired.

Atlas V 401 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz-U is built by Soviet Space Program of Russia.

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

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