Head to head

H-IIA 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

H-IIA: 10,000 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	H-IIA	Zenit-2
Flights flown	50	35
Success rate	98%	82.9%
Payload to LEO (kg)	10,000	13,740
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,260	7,300
Length (m)	53	57
Diameter (m)	4	3.9
Launch mass (t)	285	459
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.

Zenit-2

Flight record

82.9% success rate29 of 35 flown · 6 failed

1985peak 1987 · 5 flights2004

Maiden flight 1985-04-13. Retired.

H-IIA is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan (company profile on Space Index).Zenit-2 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

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