China has successfully recovered the first-stage booster of an orbital rocket for the first time, marking a major milestone in its quest to develop reusable launch technology and reduce the cost of future space missions.
The breakthrough came on Friday, July 10, when the Long March 10B lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan Province at 12:15 p.m. local time (0415 GMT).
About six minutes after the rocket’s upper stage separated, the booster carried out a controlled vertical descent before being recovered on a specially designed offshore platform, becoming China’s first successful retrieval of a booster from an orbital launch.
Unlike SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which lands on deployable legs, the Long March 10B uses specially designed hooks to latch onto a net mounted on a floating recovery platform. Chinese engineers say the system reduces structural weight while preserving payload capacity.
Reusable rockets have transformed the economics of spaceflight by allowing costly boosters to be refurbished and flown repeatedly instead of being discarded after a single mission.
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SpaceX pioneered the technology on December 21, 2015, with the first successful recovery of a Falcon 9 orbital booster.
Blue Origin followed with the recovery of its New Glenn booster in November 2025. China took its first step in February 2026, when a Long March 10A prototype completed a controlled sea recovery test.
Capable of carrying at least 16 metric tonnes to low-Earth orbit, the Long March 10B is expected to support China’s growing commercial launch market, satellite deployments and planned crewed lunar missions later this decade.
The achievement also lifted investor sentiment, with shares of China Spacesat and China Satellite Communications rising to the daily trading limit after the successful mission.
The recovery marks a significant leap for China’s space programme, placing the country among the few nations with demonstrated orbital reusable rocket capability.