Head to head

Long March 2D vs Molniya 8K78

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

Molniya 8K78: 1,900 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	Molniya 8K78
Flights flown	101	40
Success rate	99%	50%
Payload to LEO (kg)	3,500	1,900
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,962	813
Length (m)	38.3	43.44
Diameter (m)	3.35	3
Launch mass (t)	232	305
Stages	2	4

Long March 2D

Flight record

99% success rate100 of 101 flown · 1 failed

1992peak 2022 · 14 flights2026

Maiden flight 1992-08-09. Still flying.

Molniya 8K78

Flight record

50% success rate20 of 40 flown · 20 failed

1960peak 1965 · 11 flights1967

Maiden flight 1960-10-10. Retired.

Long March 2D is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Molniya 8K78 is built by Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 2D · Molniya 8K78.

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