Head to head

Atlas V 551 vs Titan IIIC

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

Titan IIIC: 13,100 kg

Side by side

9 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	Titan IIIC
Flights flown	23	36
Success rate	100%	94.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	18,850	13,100
Payload to GTO (kg)	8,890	3,000
Liftoff thrust (kN)	12,269	10,586
Length (m)	59.7	42
Diameter (m)	3.8	3
Launch mass (t)	573	626
Stages	2	3

Atlas V 551

Flight record

100% success rate23 of 23 flown

2006peak 2025 · 5 flights2026

Maiden flight 2006-01-19. Retired.

Titan IIIC

Flight record

94.4% success rate34 of 36 flown · 2 failed

1965peak 1965 · 3 flights1982

Maiden flight 1965-06-18. Retired.

Atlas V 551 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Titan IIIC is built by Lockheed Martin of the United States.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas V 551 · Titan IIIC.

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