Head to head

Long March 3B vs Soyuz-U

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

Soyuz-U: 7,050 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 3B	Soyuz-U
Flights flown	24	71
Success rate	87.5%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	11,500	7,050
Length (m)	54.8	34.54
Diameter (m)	3.35	2.95
Launch mass (t)	426	298
Stages	3	2

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.

Soyuz-U

Flight record

100% success rate71 of 71 flown

1982peak 1987 · 10 flights1995

Maiden flight 1982-12-23. Retired.

Long March 3B is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Soyuz-U is built by Soviet Space Program of Russia.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 3B · Soyuz-U.

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