Head to head

Long March 2D vs Long March 4B

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 2D: 3,500 kg

Long March 4B: 4,200 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	Long March 2D	Long March 4B
Flights flown	101	58
Success rate	99%	98.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	3,500	4,200
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,962	2,961
Length (m)	38.3	44.1
Diameter (m)	3.35	3.35
Launch mass (t)	232	249
Stages	2	3

Long March 2D

Flight record

99% success rate100 of 101 flown · 1 failed

1992peak 2022 · 14 flights2026

Maiden flight 1992-08-09. Still flying.

Long March 4B

Flight record

98.3% success rate57 of 58 flown · 1 failed

1999peak 2020 · 5 flights2026

Maiden flight 1999-05-10. Still flying.

Long March 2D is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Long March 4B is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 2D · Long March 4B.

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