Head to head

Vulcan VC6L vs Zenit-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

Vulcan VC6L: 27,200 kg

Zenit-2: 13,740 kg

Side by side

8 comparable figures

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

Metric	Vulcan VC6L	Zenit-2
Flights flown	0	35
Payload to LEO (kg)	27,200	13,740
Payload to SSO (kg)	23,900	5,000
Liftoff thrust (kN)	18,110	7,300
Length (m)	67.4	57
Diameter (m)	5.4	3.9
Launch mass (t)	877	459
Stages	2	2

Vulcan VC6L

Flight record

Maiden flight not recorded. Still flying.

Zenit-2

Flight record

82.9% success rate29 of 35 flown · 6 failed

1985peak 1987 · 5 flights2004

Maiden flight 1985-04-13. Retired.

Vulcan VC6L is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Zenit-2 is built by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine.

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Vulcan VC6L · Zenit-2.

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