Head to head

Soyuz-U vs Vega-C

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

Vega-C: 3,300 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	Vega-C
Flights flown	71	8
Success rate	100%	87.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	7,050	3,300
Length (m)	34.54	34.8
Diameter (m)	2.95	3
Launch mass (t)	298	210
Stages	2	4

Soyuz-U

Flight record

100% success rate71 of 71 flown

1982peak 1987 · 10 flights1995

Maiden flight 1982-12-23. Retired.

Vega-C

Flight record

87.5% success rate7 of 8 flown · 1 failed

2022peak 2026 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2022-07-13. Still flying.

Soyuz-U is built by Soviet Space Program of Russia.Vega-C is built by Avio S.p.A of Italy (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Soyuz-U · Vega-C.

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