China flew and then recovered a new Long March rocket booster, a first for the country and a key step toward cheaper, reusable spaceflight.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday that the Long March-10B rocket lifted off from Hainan Province and placed whatever it was carrying — the announcement did not say — into orbit on its debut flight. After the upper part of the rocket continued toward space, the booster — the powerful first stage that does the heavy lifting at launch — turned around and flew back toward Earth.
Instead of crashing into the ocean, the booster steered itself onto a special ship at sea, where a huge net caught it and left it hanging in place. Engineers described the system as the world's first cross-shaped, high-strength "arresting" net for rockets, paired with hooks on the booster that help it grab. You can watch a video of the booster's catch below.
Reusing boosters can sharply cut launch costs, let rockets fly more often, and give countries an edge in the intensifying space race. The United States — especially through companies like SpaceX — has pushed reusability for years, and China is now moving to match that capability. For national space programs and private companies, flying the same hardware again and again turns space access from a rare, expensive event into something closer to routine transportation.
SpaceX first proved this kind of reuse was possible in Dec. 2015, when one of its Falcon 9 rockets launched satellites and then steered the first-stage booster back to a landing pad. The booster plunged back through the atmosphere, fired its engines to slow down, and touched down upright rather than falling into the ocean.
Since then, SpaceX has proven it can also catch a Starship booster with giant mechanical arms, called "chopsticks," at the launchpad. Blue Origin also successfully landed a New Glenn booster on a barge about eight months ago — before the rocket exploded in May, resulting in a disastrous setback for the company.
According to Xinhua, the Long March-10B's booster went through a six-minute "extreme return journey" after it separated from the upper stage. It coasted, adjusted its position, fired its engines to slow down, and used the air itself to brake before it reached the ship.
Waiting below was a large sea-based platform delivered in late 2025, Xinhua said. The vessel measures about 470-feet-long and 160-feet-wide. A tall tower anchors the net system, while sensors like LIDAR — a type of laser-based rangefinder — track the falling booster's path and angle in real time.
Rather than having landing legs, China's new system had the booster fly straight into a massive net. Specialized cables then absorbed the booster's energy and left it hanging motionless in the center, in a fully automated process, according to officials quoted by Xinhua.
Engineers say this catch approach lets them simplify the booster itself. By skipping heavy landing gear and other equipment, they can lighten the rocket and free up more room to carry satellites, the sources said.
The Long March-10B, a liquid-fueled rocket, stands over 200 feet tall and about 16.5 feet wide, according to Xinhua. It produces close to 1,000 U.S. tons of thrust at liftoff and weighs roughly 840 tons when fully fueled. In its reusable mode, it can carry up to 18 tons of cargo to low-Earth orbit — the region of space around the planet where many communications and Earth-watching satellites fly.
Chinese officials say the rocket targets the growing commercial launch market, where companies want to send up networks of satellites quickly and at lower cost. The Long March-10B can handle jobs like creating satellite internet constellations.
Chen Muye, from the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said the maiden flight marks a breakthrough in low-cost, heavy-lift reusable rocketry for China and is meant to boost the country's commercial space competitiveness. He added that the technology will also support China's future crewed rocket program.