China succeeds in vertical rocket booster recovery, joining SpaceX in reusable launch race

China successfully recovered a rocket booster Friday, breaking into a market that US private space company SpaceX had in effect monopolized since pioneering commercial rocket reuse.

According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and other media, state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said its Long March-10B carrier rocket lifted off at 12:15 p.m. from the Hainan commercial space launch site, with the first-stage booster separating and landing vertically on a maritime platform just six minutes later.

Footage released by CCTV showed the first-stage booster slowly maneuvering into position before touching down on a maritime platform named Linghangzhe. The booster was caught using a net.

The platform has a full-load displacement of 25,000 tons and measures 144 meters in length and 50 meters in width.

According to CCTV, the maritime net-capture method was used for the first time in the world. It also marks the first time China has successfully recovered a first-stage booster from an orbital-class rocket.

China becomes only the third entity to achieve booster recovery, after SpaceX and Blue Origin.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Blue Origin's New Glenn use deployable landing legs, but the Long March-10B takes a different approach — a net on the maritime platform catches hooks attached to the rocket.

The Long March-10B is a reusable commercial liquid-propellant launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a CASC subsidiary. The rocket stands about 63 meters tall with a diameter of 5 meters, a liftoff thrust of about 890 tons, a liftoff mass of about 760 tons, and a low-Earth orbit payload capacity of 16 tons in reusable configuration.

The Falcon 9 is also a reusable two-stage rocket that launches roughly 150 times a year. The first-stage booster is the most expensive component of a rocket, and recovering it for reuse significantly cuts launch costs.

Chinese state-owned and private companies have spent nearly a decade developing reusable rockets but have faced repeated setbacks, including two failed recovery attempts last year by private firm Landspace and CASC.