China lands reusable rocket for first time, state media says

China has successfully landed a reusable rocket for the archetypal clip successful a large breakthrough for the country's abstraction programme, according to authorities media.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said the Long March 10B rocket lifted disconnected from Hainan successful confederate China astatine 12:15 section clip (04:15GMT) connected Friday.

Around six minutes aft separating from the rocket's precocious stage, its booster returned to Earth vertically and was recovered connected a floating platform.

It signals that China whitethorn beryllium capable to situation America's dominance successful reusable rockets aft palmy landings by Elon Musk's SpaceX and Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos.

Rockets are typically considered expendable - their assorted segments being discarded and destroyed during ascent - which makes launching spacecraft expensive.

By reusing boosters - which are mostly seen arsenic the astir invaluable portion of a rocket - the outgo of outer launches and abstraction exploration tin beryllium importantly lowered.

In December 2015, SpaceX landed a reusable Falcon 9 rocket from an orbital formation for the archetypal time, followed by Blue Origin's New Glenn successful November 2025.

The Falcon 9 present launches astir 150 times a twelvemonth with boosters that are susceptible of being reused dozens of times.

China made its archetypal effort astatine reusable rocket betterment successful February, with a Long March 10A rocket. It completed a controlled descent and splashed down adjacent to a betterment platform.

The Long March 10B, which tin transportation a payload of astatine slightest 16 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, has been compared to SpaceX's Falcon 9.

But dissimilar the Falcon 9, the Long March 10B does not autonomously onshore connected a crushed pad oregon drone ship. Instead "landing hooks" connected the rocket drawback a nett attached to a floating platform.

Shares successful Chinese abstraction firms jumped pursuing the news, with China Spacesat and China Satellite Communications each rising by 10%, the regular bounds allowed by the country's fiscal marketplace regulations.