# Comparison of crewed space vehicles

A number of different spacecraft have been used to carry people to and from outer space.

## Table code key

| | Spacecraft under development |
| | Spacecraft is operational |
| | Retired spacecraft |
| ‡ | Payload To / From the ISS |
| § | Crewed (Uncrewed) [Includes failures] |

## Orbital and interplanetary space vehicles

| Spacecraft | Origin | Manufacturer | Range | Launch system | Crew size | Length (m) | Diameter (m) | Launch mass (kg) | Power system | Recovery method | Payload (kg) ‡ | First spaceflight § | Last spaceflight | Flights § |
| Mercury | USA | McDonnell Aircraft North American Aviation | LEO attained | Redstone MRLV Atlas LV-3B | 1 | 3.34 | 1.89 | 1,400 | Batteries | Parachute splashdown (one drogue, one main) | | 1961 (1960) | 1963 | 6 (12) |
| Gemini | USA | McDonnell Aircraft Martin | LEO | Titan II GLV Titan IIIC | 2 | 5.56 | 3.05 | 3,790 | Fuel cells | Parachute splashdown (one drogue, one main) | | 1965 (1964) | 1966 | 10 (2) |
| Apollo | USA | North American Aviation Grumman and Douglas | Lunar | Saturn IB Saturn V | 3 | 8.5 | 3.91 | 5,500 CM + 14,700 LM + 24,500 Service Module | Fuel cells | Parachute splashdown (two drogues, three pilots, three mains) | | 1967 (1966) | 1975 | 15 (4) |
| Space Shuttle orbiter | USA | Rockwell International | LEO | Space Shuttle | 8 | 37.24 | 4.8 | 109,000 | Fuel cells | Runway landing (with one pilot and one drogue chute from mid-1990s) | 12,500/16,000 | 1981 | 2011 | 135 |
| Soyuz 7K-T | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz Soyuz-U | 2 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,830 | Batteries | Parachute landing | | 1973 | 1981 | 26 (4) |
| Voskhod | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Voskhod | 3 | 5 | 2.4 | 5,682 | Batteries | Parachute landing | | 1964 (1964) | 1965 | 2 (3) |
| Vostok | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO first | Vostok-K | 1 | 4.4 | 2.43 | 4,725 | Batteries | Parachute landing | | 1961 (1960) | 1963 | 6 (7) |
| Soyuz 7K-OK | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,560 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1967 (1966) | 1970 | 8 (8) |
| Soyuz 7KT-OK | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,790 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1971 | 1971 | 2 |
| Soyuz 7K-T-AF | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz | 2 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,570 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1973 | 1973 | 1 |
| Soyuz 7K-TM | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz-U | 2 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,570 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1974 | 1975 | 2 (2) |
| Soyuz 7K-MF6 | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz-U | 2 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,510 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1976 | 1976 | 1 |
| Soyuz-T | Soviet Union | OKB-1 | LEO | Soyuz-U Soyuz-U2 | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 6,850 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1978 | 1986 | 15 (6) |
| Soyuz-TM | Soviet Union Russia | RKK Energia | LEO | Soyuz-U2 Soyuz-U | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 7,250 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 1986 | 2002 | 33 (1) |
| Buran | Soviet Union | RKK Energia | LEO | Energia | 10 | 36.37 | 4.65 | 105,000 | Fuel cells | Runway landing with three drogue chutes | 30,000 | N/A (1988) | (1988) | 0 (1) |
| Soyuz-TMA 11F732 | Russia | RKK Energia | LEO | Soyuz-FG | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 7,250 | Solar panels | Parachute landing with retrorockets | | 2002 | 2012 | 22 |
| Soyuz TMA-M 11F747 | Russia | RKK Energia | LEO | Soyuz-FG | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 7,150 | Solar panels | Parachute landing with retrorockets | | 2010 | 2016 | 19 |
| Shenzhou | China | China Academy of Space Technology | LEO | Chang Zheng 2F | 3 | 9.25 | 2.80 | 7,840 | Solar panels | Parachute landing | | 2003 (1999) | Active | 12 (5) |
| Soyuz MS | Russia | RKK Energia | LEO | Soyuz-2.1a | 3 | 7.48 | 2.72 | 7,080 | Solar panels | Parachute landing with retrorockets | | 2016 | Active | 22 (2) |
| Crew Dragon | USA | SpaceX | LEO | Falcon 9 | 4 | 8.1 | 3.7 | 12,055 | Solar Panels | Parachute splashdown (two drogues, four mains), propulsive landing or splashdown for emergencies | 3,307/2,507 | 2020 (2019) | Active | 11 (1) |
| CST-100 Starliner | USA | Boeing | LEO | Atlas V | 7 | 5.03 | 4.56 | 13,000 | Solar panels | Parachute landing (two forward cover chutes, two drogues, three pilots and three mains) with airbags | | 2024 (2019) | Active | 1 (2) |
| Orion | USA | Lockheed Martin Astrium | Lunar, Mars | Space Launch System | 4 | 3.3 | 5 | 8,900 capsule + 12,300 service module | Solar panels | Parachute splashdown (two drogues, three pilots and three mains) | | 2025 (2014) | Testing | 0 (2) |
| Mengzhou | China | China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | LEO, Lunar | Long March 10 | 7 | 8.8 | 4.5 | 21,600 | Solar panels | | | 2026 (2020) | Testing | 0 (1) |
| Gaganyaan | India | Indian Space Research Organization | LEO | GSLV Mk III | 3 | 7 | 3.5 | 7,800 | Solar Panels | Parachute splashdown (with drogues and mains) | | (Planned: 2024) | Planned | 0 |
| Starship | USA | SpaceX | Solar System | Starship | 100 | 55 | 9 | 1,335,000 | Solar Panels | Propulsive landing (caught by mechanical arms on the launch tower when landing on launch site) | | (Planned: 2023) | Testing | 0 |
| Orel | Russia | RKK Energia | LEO,Lunar | Irtysh (rocket) Angara A5 | 6 | 6.1 | | 37,478 | Solar panels | | | (Planned: 2028) | Planned | 0 |
| Dream Chaser | USA | Sierra Nevada Corporation | LEO | Vulcan Centaur | 7 | 9 | 7 | 11,300 | Solar panels | Runway landing | | TBA | Planned | 0 |
| Biconic Space Vehicle | USA | Blue Origin | LEO | New Glenn | 7 | 98 | 7 | | | | | TBA | Planned | 0 |
| Nyx | Germany France | The Exploration Company | LEO,Lunar | Ariane 6 or Falcon 9 | | | 4 | 8,000 | Solar panels | | 4,000 LEO, 2,000 Lunar | TBA | Planned | 0 |

## Suborbital space vehicles

| Spacecraft | Origin | Manufacturer | Altitude | Launch system | Crew size | Length (m) | Diameter (m) | Launch mass (kg) | Power system | Recovery method | First spaceflight § | Last spaceflight | Flights § |
| SpaceShipOne | USA | Scaled Composites | 112 km X Prize | White Knight Hybrid Motor | 1 | 8.53 | 8.05 | 3,600 | Batteries | Runway landing | 2004 | 2004 | 3 |
| X-15 | USA | North American Aviation | 108 km altitude | B-52 Ammonia-LOX | 1 | 15.45 | 6.8 | 15,420 | Two 28 volt-300 amp DC generators | Runway landing | 1963 | 1963 | 2 |
| SpaceShipTwo | USA | Virgin Galactic | 90 km | White Knight Two RocketMotorTwo | 8 | 18.3 | 8.3 | 9,740 | Batteries | Runway landing | December 13, 2018 | 2024 | 2 |
| New Shepard | USA | Blue Origin | 119 km | New Shepard BE-3 | 6 | 18 | 3.7 | 75,000 | Batteries | Parachute landing (three drogues, three mains) with retrorockets | 2021 (2015) | | 6 (17) |
| Spica Rocket | Denmark | Copenhagen Suborbitals | 105 km | BPM100 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 4,100 | Batteries | Parachute splashdown | 2025 | Early Development | 0 |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Including 2 suborbital flights, not including boilerplate tests
* ↑ One uncrewed launch on Titan IIIC ahead of proposed use in MOL programme
* 1 2 Not including boilerplate tests
* ↑ No missions carried more than eight astronauts, although higher crew sizes were theoretically possible, for example recovering the crew of a stranded orbiter.
* ↑ Wingspan 23.79m
* ↑ Includes two fatal accidents; STS-51-L disintegrated during ascent, STS-107 damaged during ascent, disintegrated during reentry.
* ↑ Crewed flights include one launch failure - abort during third stage flight, recovered after suborbital flight
* ↑ Able to carry three cosmonauts without spacesuits, or two with spacesuits; both combinations flown
* ↑ Uncrewed flight count includes two launch failures
* ↑ Crewed flights include one fatal in-flight failure; Soyuz 1 lost due to parachute failure upon landing.
* ↑ Crewed flights include one fatal in-flight failure; Soyuz 11 depressurised during reentry.
* ↑ Crewed flights include one launch failure (SAS (launch escape system) used ~70 seconds before planned liftoff due to fire on launch pad - crew survived)
* ↑ Wingspan 23.92m
* ↑ planned payload, never used
* ↑ Each mission in the Commercial Crew Program will send up to four astronauts to the ISS
* ↑ Originally set to launch up to 6 astronauts, when designed for transportation of crew to the ISS under the Constellation Program
* ↑ Including uncrewed test in 2014
* ↑ Designed to land almost everywhere in the solar system
* ↑ Number of seats will be lower on early missions
* ↑ Plus delta wings
* ↑ Including wings
* ↑ Does not include crewed atmospheric flights
* ↑ Does not include only-U.S.-recognized spaceflights
* ↑ Does not include atmospheric flights, or missions considered spaceflights by the US definition but not the FAI's definition
* ↑ 2 crew + 6 passengers
* ↑ Does not include crewed atmospheric flights
* ↑ to date only 45,000