Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs Vega-C

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

Vega-C: 3,300 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	Vega-C
Flights flown	41	8
Success rate	100%	87.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	3,300
Payload to SSO (kg)	6,670	2,230
Launch cost	$115M	$48M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$14,545
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	2,974
Length (m)	58.3	34.8
Diameter (m)	3.8	3
Launch mass (t)	590	210
Stages	2	4

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. Retired.

Vega-C

Flight record

87.5% success rate7 of 8 flown · 1 failed

2022peak 2026 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2022-07-13. Still flying.

Atlas V 401 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Vega-C is built by Avio S.p.A of Italy (company profile on Space Index).

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

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