Head to head

Long March 2F/G vs Soyuz 2.1a

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 2F/G: 8,399 kg

Soyuz 2.1a: 7,020 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 2F/G	Soyuz 2.1a
Flights flown	22	58
Success rate	100%	98.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	8,399	7,020
Length (m)	62	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.35	2.95
Launch mass (t)	464	312
Stages	2	3

Long March 2F/G

Flight record

100% success rate22 of 22 flown

2011peak 2022 · 3 flights2026

Maiden flight 2011-10-31. Still flying.

Soyuz 2.1a

Flight record

98.3% success rate57 of 58 flown · 1 failed

2004peak 2023 · 7 flights2026

Maiden flight 2004-11-04. Still flying.

Long March 2F/G is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Soyuz 2.1a is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 2F/G · Soyuz 2.1a.

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