United Launch Alliance's replacement for Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy — powered by Blue Origin BE-4 engines, with a Centaur V upper stage designed for national security and commercial missions.
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Vulcan Centaur is United Launch Alliance's next-generation launch vehicle, designed to replace both the Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy rockets. It uses two Blue Origin BE-4 methane-fuelled engines on its first stage and the powerful Centaur V upper stage with up to two RL-10C engines. The vehicle comes in multiple configurations with zero to six GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, allowing it to serve a wide range of mission profiles from commercial broadband deployment to the most demanding national security payloads.
Vulcan is certified for the US National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 programme and is the primary launch vehicle for Amazon's Project Kuiper constellation deployment. ULA plans to eventually recover and reuse the first stage's engine section via the SMART (Sensible Modular Autonomous Return Technology) system, though this capability has not yet been implemented.
Enter a payload mass and destination orbit to rank the global fleet by suitability — capability, cost, reliability and fit. Live calculation across 14 active launch vehicles.
| Vehicle | Class | Height | LEO kg | $/kg | Flights | Reuse | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Vulcan Centaur you are here | Heavy-lift | 61.6 m | 27,200 | — | 2 | No | Active |
| 🇺🇸 Falcon 9 | Medium-lift | 70 m | 22,800 | $2,700 | 400+ | ♻︎ Yes | Active |
| 🇺🇸 Falcon Heavy | Heavy-lift | 70 m | 63,800 | $1,520 | 12 | ♻︎ Yes | Active |
| 🇺🇸 Starship | Super heavy-lift | 121 m | 150,000 | — | 7+ | ♻︎ Yes | In development |
| 🇺🇸 SLS | Super heavy-lift | 98.1 m | 95,000 | $23,000 | 1 | No | Active |
| 🇺🇸 New Glenn | Heavy-lift | 98 m | 45,000 | — | 1 | ♻︎ Yes | Active |
| 🇺🇸 New Shepard | Suborbital | 18.3 m | — | — | 25 | ♻︎ Yes | Active |
| 🇨🇳 Long March 5B | Heavy-lift | 53.7 m | 25,000 | — | 4 | No | Active |
| 🇪🇺 Ariane 6 | Medium-to-heavy-lift | 63 m | 21,650 | — | 1 | No | Active |
| 🇷🇺 Soyuz | Medium-lift | 46 m | 8,200 | $6,100 | 2,000+ | No | Active |
| 🇮🇳 PSLV | Medium-lift | 44 m | 3,800 | $5,500 | 60+ | No | Active |
| 🇳🇿 Electron | Small-lift | 18 m | 300 | $25,000 | 55+ | ♻︎ Yes | Active |
| 🇯🇵 H3 | Medium-to-heavy-lift | 63 m | 16,000 | $3,200 | 3 | No | Active |
| 🇪🇺 Vega-C | Small-to-medium-lift | 34.8 m | 2,350 | $17,000 | 2 | No | Return to flight |
Tap any column to sort · figures are list-price estimates; live flight counts update daily.