Head to head

Tsiklon-2 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

Tsiklon-2: 2,820 kg

Tsiklon-3: 4,100 kg

Side by side

10 comparable figures

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

Metric	Tsiklon-2	Tsiklon-3
Flights flown	105	122
Success rate	98.1%	94.3%
Payload to LEO (kg)	2,820	4,100
Launch cost	$12M	$15M
Cost per kg to LEO	$4,255	$3,659
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,366	2,713
Length (m)	39.7	39.27
Diameter (m)	3	3
Launch mass (t)	182	189
Stages	3	3

Tsiklon-2

Flight record

98.1% success rate103 of 105 flown · 2 failed

1969peak 1976 · 8 flights2006

Maiden flight 1969-08-06. Retired.

Tsiklon-3

Flight record

94.3% success rate115 of 122 flown · 7 failed

1977peak 1985 · 12 flights2009

Maiden flight 1977-06-24. Retired.

Tsiklon-2 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.Tsiklon-3 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

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