Head to head

H-IIA vs Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

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

H-IIA: 10,000 kg

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M: 8,200 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	H-IIA	Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Flights flown	50	36
Success rate	98%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	10,000	8,200
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,100	3,250
Launch cost	$90M	$48.5M
Cost per kg to LEO	$9,000	$5,915
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,260	4,150
Length (m)	53	46.3
Diameter (m)	4	10.3
Launch mass (t)	285	313
Stages	2	4

H-IIA

Flight record

98% success rate49 of 50 flown · 1 failed

2001peak 2017 · 6 flights2025

Maiden flight 2001-08-29. Retired.

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

Flight record

100% success rate36 of 36 flown

2017peak 2021 · 8 flights2026

Maiden flight 2008-07-26. Still flying.

H-IIA is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: H-IIA · Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M.

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