China successfully recovered the first stage of a Long March 10B space rocket on July 10, 2026.
This is a significant milestone for the Chinese space industry, as to date only two space companies in the United States, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin, have completed a similar technical feat.
The Long March 10B rocket lift off-took place at 12.15pm local time, from a launch site on the island of Hainan.
The booster landed successfully on a platform on the South China Sea 11 minutes after the launch, having successfully separate from the second stage, which then proceeded into orbit carrying a satellite.
The booster, which used engines to adjust its downward trajectory, was then captured by a flexible net made of tensioned cables and a hydraulic damping system to dissipate the energy.
The approach adopted by CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) to perform this recovery operation is markedly different from that used SpaceX. Depending on the type of rocket, the latter has used both landing legs and a pair of chopstick-like metal pincers to ensure the booster’s safe recovery.
Reportedly, China had tried a legs system in previous failed attempts to recover stages of a space rocket.
The successful recovery of booster stages is necessary in order to reuse the hardware, which is seen as essential to lower launch costs and enable the ramping-up of the number of launches.