Head to head

Soyuz U vs Tsiklon-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

Soyuz U: 6,900 kg

Tsiklon-2: 2,820 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-2
Flights flown	714	105
Success rate	97.2%	98.1%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,900	2,820
Length (m)	51.1	39.7
Diameter (m)	2.95	3
Launch mass (t)	313	182
Stages	3	3

Soyuz U

Flight record

97.2% success rate694 of 714 flown · 20 failed

1973peak 1979 · 47 flights2017

Maiden flight 1973-05-18. Retired.

Tsiklon-2

Flight record

98.1% success rate103 of 105 flown · 2 failed

1969peak 1976 · 8 flights2006

Maiden flight 1969-08-06. Retired.

Soyuz U is built by Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) of Russia.Tsiklon-2 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Soyuz U · Tsiklon-2.

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