Head to head

Delta 2914 vs Molniya 8K78

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

Delta 2914: 724 kg

Molniya 8K78: 1,900 kg

Side by side

8 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Delta 2914	Molniya 8K78
Flights flown	30	40
Success rate	93.3%	50%
Payload to LEO (kg)	724	1,900
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,287	813
Length (m)	35	43.44
Diameter (m)	2.44	3
Launch mass (t)	130	305
Stages	4	4

Delta 2914

Flight record

93.3% success rate28 of 30 flown · 2 failed

1974peak 1977 · 8 flights1979

Maiden flight 1974-04-13. Retired.

Molniya 8K78

Flight record

50% success rate20 of 40 flown · 20 failed

1960peak 1965 · 11 flights1967

Maiden flight 1960-10-10. Retired.

Delta 2914 is built by McDonnell Douglas of the United States.Molniya 8K78 is built by Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Delta 2914 · Molniya 8K78.

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