Head to head

Tsiklon-3 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

Tsiklon-3: 4,100 kg

Vega-C: 3,300 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-3	Vega-C
Flights flown	122	8
Success rate	94.3%	87.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	4,100	3,300
Launch cost	$15M	$48M
Cost per kg to LEO	$3,659	$14,545
Liftoff thrust (kN)	2,713	2,974
Length (m)	39.27	34.8
Diameter (m)	3	3
Launch mass (t)	189	210
Stages	3	4

Tsiklon-3

Flight record

94.3% success rate115 of 122 flown · 7 failed

1977peak 1985 · 12 flights2009

Maiden flight 1977-06-24. 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.

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