Head to head

Long March 3B vs Long March 3B/E

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 3B: 11,500 kg

Long March 3B/E: 12,000 kg

Side by side

11 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Long March 3B	Long March 3B/E
Flights flown	24	78
Success rate	87.5%	97.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	11,500	12,000
Payload to GTO (kg)	5,100	5,500
Launch cost	$70M	$70M
Cost per kg to LEO	$6,087	$5,833
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,923	5,924
Length (m)	54.8	56.3
Diameter (m)	3.35	3.35
Launch mass (t)	426	456
Stages	3	3

Long March 3B

Flight record

87.5% success rate21 of 24 flown · 3 failed

1996peak 2020 · 4 flights2023

Maiden flight 1996-02-14. Still flying.

Long March 3B/E

Flight record

97.4% success rate76 of 78 flown · 2 failed

2007peak 2025 · 13 flights2026

Maiden flight 2007-05-13. Still flying.

Long March 3B is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Long March 3B/E is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 3B · Long March 3B/E.

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