Head to head

H-IIA vs Soyuz-U

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-U: 7,050 kg

Side by side

7 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-U
Flights flown	50	71
Success rate	98%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	10,000	7,050
Length (m)	53	34.54
Diameter (m)	4	2.95
Launch mass (t)	285	298
Stages	2	2

H-IIA

Flight record

98% success rate49 of 50 flown · 1 failed

2001peak 2017 · 6 flights2025

Maiden flight 2001-08-29. Retired.

Soyuz-U

Flight record

100% success rate71 of 71 flown

1982peak 1987 · 10 flights1995

Maiden flight 1982-12-23. Retired.

H-IIA is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz-U is built by Soviet Space Program of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: H-IIA · Soyuz-U.

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