China Lands Rocket During an Orbital Launch For First Time
4 34China successfully recovered an orbital rocket booster for the first time, landing the Long March 10B's first stage into a net-equipped sea platform after its maiden launch. "This mission marks my country's first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle and the world's first network-based recovery of a launch vehicle," the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced via social media shortly after the launch. (Translation by Google.) "It signifies a historic breakthrough for my country in the field of reusable rocket technology and will lay a solid foundation for accelerating the improvement of my country's space access capabilities." Space.com reports: The Long March 10B is a two-stage rocket that stands about 207 feet (63 meters) tall, according to the state-owned CASC, the main contractor for China's space program. The vehicle's first stage burns kerosene and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants, whereas the second stage uses LOX and liquid methane. In reusable mode, the Long March 10B can loft about 16 tons of payload to low Earth orbit.
And the rocket flew with a payload on its debut liftoff -- a satellite that successfully reached "its predetermined orbit," according to the CASC update. That post did not provide any details about the spacecraft or its orbit. It did give a brief rundown of the first-stage recovery, however. "Approximately 6 minutes after the first and second stages separated, the first stage returned vertically and was successfully recovered at a sea-based recovery platform using a net system," CASC officials wrote, noting that launch occurred from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site on Friday at 12:15 a.m. EDT (0415 GMT; 12:15 p.m. Beijing time.) "The launch and first-stage recovery missions were a complete success."
4 comments
Yes but actually, no. (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Saturday July 11, 2026 @02:36PM (#66233230)
A reusable rocket without an asshole.
It's a state-owned company. Have you forgotten what's still going on in China? In the Xinjiang region, over a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been in "vocational education and training centers" since 2017. If you think that carrying out a genocide doesn't make you an asshole then you are an asshole.
Re:phrasing, subby. (Score: 5, Interesting)
by dinfinity ( 2300094 ) on Saturday July 11, 2026 @03:48AM (#66232474)
Is that better or worse? I was under the impression that most people find the catching of a rocket booster like SpaceX does with those little arms to be more awesome than just landing the booster.
I also thought that outside of having to land on Mars it is the preferred approach because it is more efficient.
Finally: Caught it in a net conjures up the wrong image. If you look at the video the 'net' is much more like the mechazilla arms and not some fishing net they plop the booster into: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:phrasing, subby. (Score: 5, Informative)
by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Saturday July 11, 2026 @04:19AM (#66232502)
It's mostly better. While the barge has to be a bit more complex because it has to have the lattice of ropes (it's not a net), it means that the booster doesn't have to have landing struts. That's a significant weight saving, which means less propellant needed too.
It likely also means that the system is less dependent on good weather, and better able to recover from small issues that would tip self supporting boosters over. IIRC the Blue Origin system actually welds itself to the deck when it lands to help with that, which obviously makes the legs disposable.
The only real downside is that it does require that barge to land, so to land on the moon you would need to first land a landing station. That won't be an issue for the first manned trips, and longer term it may have advantages because the vehicle's engine can be shut off at higher altitude and kick up less regolith.
Exciting times and another technique added to the list of options. We will see which becomes the preferred one, but competition in this area is going to be good for getting costs down.
Re:Cool! (Score: 5, Informative)
by Enigma2175 ( 179646 ) on Saturday July 11, 2026 @12:57PM (#66233076)
they didn't have orbital technology thirty years ago
According to wiki they launched their first orbital satellite in 1970, more than 30 years ago.