China has achieved a landmark breakthrough in reusable rocket technology, successfully recovering the first stage of its Long March 10B during its maiden orbital launch on Friday. According to reports from CCTV, the rocket lifted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan province at 12.15 pm local time, marking China's first controlled recovery of an orbital rocket. The success positions China as only the second nation after the US to demonstrate controlled orbital-class booster recovery, following SpaceX's pioneering achievements in 2015. The recovery system employs a net mounted on an offshore platform that captured the booster using landing hooks and a suspended net, representing a first for orbital-class rockets and the world's first net-based recovery of a launch vehicle.
The Long March 10B employs a sea-based net system that captures the booster using landing hooks and a suspended net strung across a floating barge, as reported by CCTV. This method represents a first for orbital-class rockets, differing significantly from SpaceX's Falcon 9 which lands vertically on legs atop droneships or landing pads. The 70-meter (230-foot) tall, 5-meter-wide rocket runs on seven kerosene-liquid oxygen engines on its first stage, with a methane-liquid oxygen engine powering the second stage. According to CCTV, the booster made a controlled vertical descent about two and a half minutes after separating from the upper stage before being successfully recovered using the net system. The rocket's first stage returned vertically to the sea-based platform, with the separation point occurring where first- and second-stage boosters separated and first-stage engines cut off temporarily.
According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the net-capture method sidesteps the added weight and precision demands of landing legs, potentially boosting payload capacity. As reported by Open Source Intel, the Long March 10B can carry at least 16 tonnes to low Earth orbit and is expected to serve as a workhorse for satellite launches, as well as a testbed for China's crewed lunar ambitions. The rocket is part of the Long March 10 family being developed for China's planned crewed lunar missions before 2030, designed for both commercial space missions and lunar exploration. The success follows two failed attempts in December by LandSpace's Zhuque 3 and the Long March 12A, both of which crashed while attempting leg-based landings similar to SpaceX's approach.
Markets responded positively to the achievement, with shares in China Spacesat and China Satellite Communications each jumping 10 per cent, reaching the daily limit under Chinese trading rules, according to CCTV. The breakthrough triggered an immediate rally in Chinese space stocks, with shares of major space firms like China Spacesat Co. hitting their maximum daily 10% trading limits. The research team will make further optimization and planning to achieve the reuse of the first stage by the end of this year, according to CCTV. This achievement signals growing ambition to challenge American dominance in reusable launch technology while charting a technically distinct path to achieve this goal. The milestone comes as China continues to narrow the technological gap with the United States, with SpaceX achieving its first successful Falcon 9 booster landing after an orbital mission in December 2015, while Blue Origin's New Glenn completed its first successful landing in November 2025.
