Head to head

Long March 2C 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

Long March 2C: 3,850 kg

Soyuz U: 6,900 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	Long March 2C	Soyuz U
Flights flown	66	714
Success rate	98.5%	97.2%
Payload to LEO (kg)	3,850	6,900
Length (m)	42	51.1
Diameter (m)	3.35	2.95
Launch mass (t)	233	313
Stages	2	3

Long March 2C

Flight record

98.5% success rate65 of 66 flown · 1 failed

1982peak 2023 · 6 flights2026

Maiden flight 1982-09-09. Still flying.

Soyuz U

Flight record

97.2% success rate694 of 714 flown · 20 failed

1973peak 1979 · 47 flights2017

Maiden flight 1973-05-18. Retired.

Long March 2C is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Soyuz U is built by Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 2C · 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.