Head to head

Molniya 8K78 vs Rokot/Briz-KM

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

Rokot/Briz-KM: 1,850 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	Rokot/Briz-KM
Flights flown	40	31
Success rate	50%	90.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	1,900	1,850
Liftoff thrust (kN)	813	1,870
Length (m)	43.44	29
Diameter (m)	3	2.5
Launch mass (t)	305	107
Stages	4	3

Molniya 8K78

Flight record

50% success rate20 of 40 flown · 20 failed

1960peak 1965 · 11 flights1967

Maiden flight 1960-10-10. Retired.

Rokot/Briz-KM

Flight record

90.3% success rate28 of 31 flown · 3 failed

2000peak 2013 · 4 flights2019

Maiden flight 2000-05-16. Still flying.

Molniya 8K78 is built by Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia.Rokot/Briz-KM is built by Russian Aerospace Defence Forces of Russia (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Molniya 8K78 · Rokot/Briz-KM.

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