Head to head

Falcon 9 vs Zenit-2

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

Zenit-2: 13,740 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	Falcon 9	Zenit-2
Flights flown	697	35
Success rate	99.4%	82.9%
Payload to LEO (kg)	22,800	13,740
Liftoff thrust (kN)	7,607	7,300
Length (m)	70	57
Diameter (m)	3.65	3.9
Launch mass (t)	549	459
Stages	2	2

Falcon 9

Flight record

99.4% success rate693 of 697 flown · 4 failed

2010peak 2025 · 165 flights2026

Maiden flight 2018-05-11. Still flying.

Zenit-2

Flight record

82.9% success rate29 of 35 flown · 6 failed

1985peak 1987 · 5 flights2004

Maiden flight 1985-04-13. Retired.

Falcon 9 is built by SpaceX of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Zenit-2 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Falcon 9 · Zenit-2.

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