Head to head

Soyuz-U vs Tsiklon-3

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

Soyuz-U: 7,050 kg

Tsiklon-3: 4,100 kg

Side by side

7 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Soyuz-U	Tsiklon-3
Flights flown	71	122
Success rate	100%	94.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	7,050	4,100
Length (m)	34.54	39.27
Diameter (m)	2.95	3
Launch mass (t)	298	189
Stages	2	3

Soyuz-U

Flight record

100% success rate71 of 71 flown

1982peak 1987 · 10 flights1995

Maiden flight 1982-12-23. Retired.

Tsiklon-3

Flight record

94.3% success rate115 of 122 flown · 7 failed

1977peak 1985 · 12 flights2009

Maiden flight 1977-06-24. Retired.

Soyuz-U is built by Soviet Space Program of Russia.Tsiklon-3 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Soyuz-U · Tsiklon-3.

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