China’s Long March-10B Rocket Successfully Recovers First Stage—Challenges SpaceX

China has achieved its first controlled rocket recovery, successfully landing and retrieving the first stage of its Long March-10B reusable rocket. This marks a major leap toward reusable launch capabilities, with the stage descending via a sea-based net—a method China claims as the world’s first. The milestone positions China alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin in rocket booster recovery technology, though gaps remain in payload capacity and satellite deployment compared to Starlink.