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🚀 Launch Vehicle Directory

Launch Vehicles — Every Active Rocket Compared

Side-by-side specs, payload capacity, cost, reusability and live flight data for every major rocket flying today — from Electron to Starship.

Last updated: · 14 vehicles

2,500+
Combined Launches (All Time)
80+
Launches This Year
14
Active Vehicles
8
Countries / Blocs
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Height Comparison — Every Rocket to Scale

All 14 vehicles drawn to the same scale. Starship at 121 m dwarfs Electron's 18 m — a 6.7× difference in height and orders of magnitude in payload capacity.

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Comparison Table — All Vehicles

Click any column header to sort. All payload figures are maximum capacity to the stated orbit. Cost data is estimated where publicly available.

Vehicle Country Class Height LEO (kg) Flights Reusable First Flight Status
Falcon 9🇺🇸 USMedium70 m22,800400+✓ 1st stage2010Active
Falcon Heavy🇺🇸 USHeavy70 m63,80012+✓ Boosters2018Active
Starship🇺🇸 USSuper heavy121 m150,0007✓ Both stages2023Dev
SLS🇺🇸 USSuper heavy98 m95,0001✗ Expendable2022Active
New Glenn🇺🇸 USHeavy98 m45,0001✓ 1st stage2025Active
New Shepard🇺🇸 USSuborbital18 m25✓ Fully2015Active
Long March 5B🇨🇳 ChinaHeavy54 m25,0004✗ Expendable2020Active
Ariane 6🇪🇺 EuropeMed–Heavy63 m21,6501✗ Expendable2024Active
Soyuz🇷🇺 RussiaMedium46 m8,2002,000+✗ Expendable1966Active
PSLV🇮🇳 IndiaMedium44 m3,80060+✗ Expendable1993Active
Electron🇳🇿 NZSmall18 m30055+✓ Recovery2017Active
Vulcan Centaur🇺🇸 USHeavy62 m27,2002✗ Expendable2024Active
H3🇯🇵 JapanMed–Heavy63 m16,0003✗ Expendable2024Active
Vega-C🇪🇺 EuropeSmall–Med35 m2,3502✗ Expendable2022RTF
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All Launch Vehicles

Detailed profiles with full specifications, flight history, engine data, mission roadmaps and live launch data. Each page links to relevant launch schedule entries, launch log records and spaceport profiles.

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Related Sections

Frequently Asked Questions

By total flights, Russia's Soyuz rocket family holds the all-time record with over 2,000 launches since 1966. For active rockets as of 2026, SpaceX's Falcon 9 leads by a wide margin with over 400 missions, performing the vast majority of global orbital launches.
SpaceX's Starship is the most powerful rocket ever flown, producing approximately 74 meganewtons of thrust from 33 Raptor engines — nearly twice the Saturn V. NASA's SLS is the second most powerful active rocket at 39,144 kN.
As of 2026, reusable orbital rockets include SpaceX's Falcon 9 (first stage + fairing), Falcon Heavy (side boosters + fairing), Starship (both stages, in development), New Glenn (first stage), and Electron (first stage recovery in development). Most other active rockets remain fully expendable.
Falcon 9 is currently the cheapest operational path to orbit for medium-to-large payloads at approximately $2,700/kg to LEO. Starship aims to reduce costs below $100/kg with full reusability. For small dedicated payloads, Electron offers launches at $7.5 million total.
As of 2026, there are approximately 14 major active or recently-debuted launch vehicles from 8 countries and blocs. These range from the small Electron (300 kg to orbit) to the super heavy-lift Starship (150,000 kg to orbit). See the launch schedule for upcoming missions from all providers.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches the vast majority of satellites, deploying 20–23 Starlink satellites per mission at a cadence exceeding 100 launches per year. It accounts for over 95% of global commercial launch mass to orbit.
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