Head to head

Falcon 9 vs Long March 3B

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

Falcon 9: 22,800 kg

Long March 3B: 11,500 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	Falcon 9	Long March 3B
Flights flown	697	24
Success rate	99.4%	87.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	22,800	11,500
Payload to GTO (kg)	8,300	5,100
Launch cost	$52M	$70M
Cost per kg to LEO	$2,281	$6,087
Liftoff thrust (kN)	7,607	5,923
Length (m)	70	54.8
Diameter (m)	3.65	3.35
Launch mass (t)	549	426
Stages	2	3

Falcon 9

Flight record

99.4% success rate693 of 697 flown · 4 failed

2010peak 2025 · 165 flights2026

Maiden flight 2018-05-11. Still flying.

Long March 3B

Flight record

87.5% success rate21 of 24 flown · 3 failed

1996peak 2020 · 4 flights2023

Maiden flight 1996-02-14. Still flying.

Falcon 9 is built by SpaceX of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Long March 3B is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Falcon 9 · Long March 3B.

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