Head to head

Soyuz U vs Soyuz-U-PVB

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: 6,900 kg

Soyuz-U-PVB: 6,900 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	Soyuz-U-PVB
Flights flown	714	74
Success rate	97.2%	97.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,900	6,900
Length (m)	51.1	51
Diameter (m)	2.95	3
Launch mass (t)	313	313
Stages	3	2

Soyuz U

Flight record

97.2% success rate694 of 714 flown · 20 failed

1973peak 1979 · 47 flights2017

Maiden flight 1973-05-18. Retired.

Soyuz-U-PVB

Flight record

97.3% success rate72 of 74 flown · 2 failed

1984peak 1999 · 9 flights2009

Maiden flight 1984-03-21. Retired.

Soyuz U is built by Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) of Russia.Soyuz-U-PVB is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia.

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

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