Head to head

Long March 4B vs Vega-C

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 4B: 4,200 kg

Vega-C: 3,300 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 4B	Vega-C
Flights flown	58	8
Success rate	98.3%	87.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	4,200	3,300
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,961	2,974
Length (m)	44.1	34.8
Diameter (m)	3.35	3
Launch mass (t)	249	210
Stages	3	4

Long March 4B

Flight record

98.3% success rate57 of 58 flown · 1 failed

1999peak 2020 · 5 flights2026

Maiden flight 1999-05-10. Still flying.

Vega-C

Flight record

87.5% success rate7 of 8 flown · 1 failed

2022peak 2026 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2022-07-13. Still flying.

Long March 4B is built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation of China.Vega-C is built by Avio S.p.A of Italy (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Long March 4B · Vega-C.

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