China makes history and becomes the second country capable of landing the first stage of a rocket

China makes history and becomes the second country capable of landing the first stage of a rocket

China The first stage of a rocket has landed for the first time during an orbital launch and thus becomes in the second country that dominates this technology after the United States. The milestone occurred this Friday, July 10, during the inaugural flight of the Long March 10Bwhose propeller descended on a sea platform and became suspended in a net-like structure.

The rocket took off at 12:15 Beijing time, 6:15 in Spain, from Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center. The second stage placed a satellite into the planned orbit, about which China has not offered more information. About six minutes after separation, the first stage returned in a vertical position towards the vessel in charge of recovering it..

Unlike the Falcon 9 of SpaceX or the New Glenn of Blue Originthe Chinese thruster does not use legs to rest on a surface. Incorporate instead four hooks that cling to a net stretched over the boat during the final phase of the descent. The Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle TechnologyCALT for its acronym in English, maintains that this solution allows the rocket to be simplified, reduce its mass and reserve a greater part of its capacity for the payload.

‘This mission represents the first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle in our country and the first recovery of a launch vehicle using a worldwide network‘, stated the China Aerospace Science and Technology CorporationCASC, main contractor for the country’s space program.

‘It represents a historic advance for our country in the field of reusable rocket technology and will lay a solid foundation to accelerate the improvement of our ability to access space‘, adds the CASC.

The Long March 10B is a two-stage launcher and about 63 meters high. Its first stage uses kerosene and liquid oxygenwhile the second uses methane and liquid oxygen and can place around 16 tons in low Earth orbit. China intends re-launch the recovered stage before the end of the yeara necessary step to demonstrate that the system allows real reuse and not just a controlled landing.

SpaceX managed to recover the main stage of an orbital rocket for the first time December 21, 2015when a Falcon 9 landed at Cape Canaveral after launching into orbit 11 satellites. China has It took ten years, six months and 19 days in achieving the same objective. The company of Elon Musk achieved the first landing on a maritime platform in April 2016 and made rocket reuse common practice.

The United States already has a second company capable of doing so. Blue Origin landed the first stage of the New Glenn on the ship Jacklyn on November 13, 2025after launching the two probes ESCAPADE of the POT. China is, therefore, the second country to recover the stage of an orbital rocket, but CALT is the third to achieve it after SpaceX and Blue Origin.

success comes after two failed attempts in December 2025. He Zhuque-3 of the private company LandSpace It reached orbit, but an anomalous combustion during descent prevented it from recovering its first stage. He Long March 12A also completed the orbital portion of its maiden flight weeks later, although Its booster failed to land in the planned area. However, two days later it was recovered from the sea. Both programs continue to be developed with the aim of reusing their first stages.