Head to head

Molniya 8K78 vs PSLV

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

Molniya 8K78: 1,900 kg

PSLV: 3,800 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	Molniya 8K78	PSLV
Flights flown	40	30
Success rate	50%	93.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	1,900	3,800
Liftoff thrust (kN)	813	4,847
Length (m)	43.44	44
Diameter (m)	3	2.8
Launch mass (t)	305	230
Stages	4	4

Molniya 8K78

Flight record

50% success rate20 of 40 flown · 20 failed

1960peak 1965 · 11 flights1967

Maiden flight 1960-10-10. Retired.

PSLV

Flight record

93.3% success rate28 of 30 flown · 2 failed

1993peak 2007 · 2 flights2024

Maiden flight 2007-04-23. Still flying.

Molniya 8K78 is built by Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia.PSLV is built by Indian Space Research Organization of India (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Molniya 8K78 · PSLV.

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