Rocket DB

Head to head

Proton-M Briz-M vs Soyuz 2.1b

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

Proton-M Briz-M: 21,000 kg

Soyuz 2.1b: 8,200 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.

MetricProton-M Briz-MSoyuz 2.1b
Flights flown6825
Success rate91.2%100%
Payload to LEO (kg)21,0008,200
Payload to GTO (kg)4,5003,250
Length (m)5346.3
Diameter (m)7.42.95
Launch mass (t)712312
Stages43

Proton-M Briz-M

Flight record
91.2% success rate62 of 68 flown · 6 failed
2001peak 2013 · 9 flights2023

Maiden flight 2001-04-07. Still flying.

Soyuz 2.1b

Flight record
100% success rate25 of 25 flown
2008peak 2021 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2008-07-26. Still flying.

Proton-M Briz-M is built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1b is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Proton-M Briz-M · Soyuz 2.1b.

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