Head to head

Atlas V 551 vs Long March 3B/E

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 551: 18,850 kg

Long March 3B/E: 12,000 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 551	Long March 3B/E
Flights flown	23	78
Success rate	100%	97.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	18,850	12,000
Payload to GTO (kg)	8,890	5,500
Launch cost	$153M	$70M
Cost per kg to LEO	$8,117	$5,833
Liftoff thrust (kN)	12,269	5,924
Length (m)	59.7	56.3
Diameter (m)	3.8	3.35
Launch mass (t)	573	456
Stages	2	3

Atlas V 551

Flight record

100% success rate23 of 23 flown

2006peak 2025 · 5 flights2026

Maiden flight 2006-01-19. Retired.

Long March 3B/E

Flight record

97.4% success rate76 of 78 flown · 2 failed

2007peak 2025 · 13 flights2026

Maiden flight 2007-05-13. Still flying.

Atlas V 551 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Long March 3B/E is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas V 551 · Long March 3B/E.

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