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M

Rocket file · LV-336

Mu-3C

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science · Mu · RETIRED

Mu-3C is an expendable launch vehicle built by Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. It stands 20.2 m tall, lifts 195 kg to low Earth orbit, first flew on 16 February 1974. It has flown 4 times with 3 successes, a success rate of 75.0%. It has nothing on the Launch Library 2 schedule right now.

Specification

Vehicle spec sheet

ON FILE
Height20.2 m
Diameter1.4 m
Payload to LEO195 kg
Payload to GTONOT ON FILE
Maiden flight16 February 1974
ReusableNo, expendable
Launch costNOT ON FILE
StatusRETIRED

As listed by Launch Library 2. The cost is Launch Library’s figure, not a quoted price. Figures for rockets outside the sixty most-flown were last read on 2026-11-05.

Flight record

Reliability

ON RECORD
Total flights4
Successful3
Failed1
Success rate75.0%
Landing attempts0
Landing successN/A
Scheduled0
VariantC

About Mu-3C

The Mu, also known as M, was a series of Japanese solid-fuelled carrier rockets, which were launched from Uchinoura between 1966 and 2006. Originally developed by Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Mu rockets were later operated by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency following ISAS becoming part of it.

Upcoming flights

Manifest

EMPTY

Mu-3C is retired, and no flight is filed.

All upcoming launches

From NASA's public image library and Wikimedia Commons. Each photo shows the credit its licence asks for and links back to where it came from.

O-SETSU-Y 2006 Modular Synth
O-SETSU-Y 2006 Modular SynthKazuhisa OTSUBO · CC BY 2.0Wikimedia Commons ↗

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Common questions

How many times has Mu-3C flown?
4 times, with 3 successes and 1 failures.
What is Mu-3C's success rate?
75.0%. That's 3 successful flights out of 4 attempts.
How much can Mu-3C lift to orbit?
Launch Library 2 lists Mu-3C at 195 kg to low Earth orbit.
Is Mu-3C reusable?
No. Launch Library 2 lists Mu-3C as expendable, so no stage is recovered to fly again.