China recovers Long March 10B booster at sea in first reusable rocket landing, narrowing SpaceX gap

China recovered the first stage of a Long March 10B rocket on Friday, marking the country's first successful landing of a reusable orbital-class booster. The launch and recovery, carried out by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, took place just after noon local time from the Wenchang spaceport on Hainan Island.

The recovery sequence

The rocket lifted off at 12:15 local time (04:15 GMT). Around six minutes after stage separation, the booster descended vertically toward a floating platform at sea. Unlike the Falcon 9, which touches down autonomously on a drone ship or ground pad, the Long March 10B used landing hooks to catch a net stretched across the recovery platform. Chinese state media described it as the "world's first net-based recovery of a launch vehicle."

It is the world's first net‑based recovery of a launch vehicle.

The platform was built last year and tested in February, when a predecessor rocket, the Long March 10A, completed a controlled descent but splashed down beside the platform rather than landing on it. Friday's mission built directly on that test.

Payload and comparison with Falcon 9

The Long March 10B can carry a payload of at least 16 metric tons (16,000 kilograms, or 35,275 pounds) to low Earth orbit, according to Xinhua. By comparison, the SpaceX Falcon 9 has a maximum payload of 22,800 kilograms (50,265 pounds) to the same orbit. The Falcon 9 now flies about 150 times a year with boosters reused dozens of times. SpaceX has more than 10,000 satellites in orbit and leads the satellite internet market.

What it means for Chinese satellite firms

Chinese companies have so far launched satellites exclusively with expendable rockets, discarding boosters after every flight. Two Chinese satellite constellations aiming to compete with SpaceX's Starlink have together launched just over 400 satellites. The reusable Long March 10B could change that trajectory, offering a path to faster, cheaper deployment.

Every day that passed without a reusable Chinese launcher, SpaceX pulled further ahead.

Shares in Chinese space firms jumped after the news. China Spacesat and China Satellite Communications each rose by 10%, the daily limit permitted under the country's financial market regulations.

The wider Long March 10 programme

The Long March 10B was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a subsidiary of the state corporation. It belongs to the Long March 10 rocket series, some variants of which are designed for China's first crewed lunar mission, expected by 2030. The rocket stands about 200 feet high.

Global reusable-rocket landscape

SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 first stage from an orbital flight for the first time in December 2015. Blue Origin followed with its New Glenn booster in November 2025, though it later destroyed its only launch pad in May 2026. China now becomes the second nation to recover an orbital-class reusable booster, after the United States.