China achieved a significant milestone in its space program as it successfully landed the first stage of a rocket following a launch on Friday, as reported by state media. The Long March-10B rocket’s first stage separated from the second stage after liftoff and safely returned to a platform in the sea, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
This marked China’s first successful recovery of a rocket’s first stage, a practice that SpaceX has been implementing for several years to reduce launch costs by reusing boosters. Both Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin have been pioneers in recovering and reusing rockets since 2015, leading to substantial cost savings. SpaceX has accomplished over 600 landings of its first-stage Falcon boosters, utilizing ocean barges and landing zones near launch pads.
In a recent achievement, SpaceX launched a booster for the 36th time this week, setting a new record. The company is also working on capturing returning rockets with large mechanical arms at the launch pad for its Starship missions. Blue Origin initially landed its New Shepard boosters in Texas and later recovered larger New Glenn boosters on a floating platform off the Florida coast.
With China now joining the rocket recycling trend, Japan is poised to make its own launch and landing attempts this weekend. The Long March rocket took off from Hainan Island in China, a popular tourist destination along the southern coast. The rocket’s reusable configuration can carry payloads of up to 16,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, as reported by Xinhua.
Comparatively, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 can handle a maximum payload of 22,800 kilograms, while the Falcon Heavy can launch up to 63,800 kilograms to low Earth orbit. Blue Origin’s New Glenn is capable of launching payloads of up to 45,000 kilograms. Additionally, Rocket Lab USA, a smaller launch company, achieved the milestone of capturing its first stage rocket with a helicopter in 2022 before safely dropping it into the ocean.
