Head to head

Proton-M Briz-M vs Zenit-2

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

Zenit-2: 13,740 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	Proton-M Briz-M	Zenit-2
Flights flown	68	35
Success rate	91.2%	82.9%
Payload to LEO (kg)	21,000	13,740
Liftoff thrust (kN)	10,000	7,300
Length (m)	53	57
Diameter (m)	7.4	3.9
Launch mass (t)	712	459
Stages	4	2

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.

Zenit-2

Flight record

82.9% success rate29 of 35 flown · 6 failed

1985peak 1987 · 5 flights2004

Maiden flight 1985-04-13. Retired.

Proton-M Briz-M is built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).Zenit-2 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Proton-M Briz-M · Zenit-2.

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