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: 6,900 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	714	122
Success rate	97.2%	94.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	6,900	4,100
Length (m)	51.1	39.27
Diameter (m)	2.95	3
Launch mass (t)	313	189
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-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 Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) 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.