Head to head

Long March 2F/G vs Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat

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 2.1b/Fregat: 8,200 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.

MetricLong March 2F/GSoyuz 2.1b/Fregat
Flights flown2226
Success rate100%92.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)8,3998,200
Length (m)6246.3
Diameter (m)3.352.95
Launch mass (t)464312
Stages24

Long March 2F/G

Flight record
100% success rate22 of 22 flown
2011peak 2022 · 3 flights2026

Maiden flight 2011-10-31. Still flying.

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat

Flight record
92.3% success rate24 of 26 flown · 2 failed
2006peak 2011 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2006-12-27. Still flying.

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

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

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