China Recovers Long March 10B Booster With Net Capture at Sea, Becoming Second Nation to Land an Orbital-Class Rocket

Overview

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched the new Long March 10B rocket on its maiden flight from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site at 12:15 a.m. Eastern (0415 UTC) on July 10, 2026, and recovered the vehicle’s first stage using a net-based capture system on a ship at sea, according to SpaceNews. The successful recovery sees CASC join SpaceX and Blue Origin as the only organizations to have recovered an orbital-class booster, SpaceNews reported, and CASC called it the country’s first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle and the world’s first net-based recovery of a launch vehicle, according to Scientific American.

What We Know

The Long March 10B is a five-meter-diameter, two-stage rocket measuring 63 meters long with a liftoff mass of 760,000 kilograms, SpaceNews reported. Its first stage is powered by seven YF-100K kerosene-liquid oxygen engines producing a combined 890 tons of thrust, SpaceNews reported. The second stage uses a single liquid oxygen-methane engine, according to Global Times. In its reusable configuration the rocket can lift 16,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit, SpaceNews reported. On its debut flight, the rocket carried an undisclosed satellite payload into orbit, per SpaceNews.

Roughly six minutes after the first and second stages separated, the booster made a controlled, powered descent and was caught by hooks engaging a tensioned net strung across the deck of a recovery ship, the Linghang Zhe, or “navigator,” according to SpaceNews. The first stage made a vertical return before it was successfully recovered by the offshore platform, Global Times reported. The system uses a flexible net with hydraulic damping, eliminating the need for the deployable landing legs used on other reusable rockets, SpaceNews reported, and Scientific American similarly described the booster deploying “four comparatively lightweight ‘landing hooks’” to engage the novel net-based recovery system. The recovery ship measures 144 meters by 50 meters with a full-load displacement of 25,000 tonnes and was delivered by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) in November 2025, according to Xinhua.

CASC’s Chen Muye said, “Net-based recovery simplifies the onboard structure, reduces weight, and boosts payload capacity,” Xinhua reported. CASC’s Xu Xuelei described the recovery platform’s design, saying, “The platform’s massive tower structure is anchored to the deck by four large supports,” per Xinhua. Sun Zhenlian, a technical expert at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, characterized the capture mechanism as “like powerful hands firmly grasping the rocket,” Global Times reported.

CASC said it intends to reuse the recovered first stage on another flight before the end of the year, according to SpaceNews, a plan corroborated by Global Times, which reported a reused first-stage flight test is expected by the end of 2026. Long Lehao, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said, “The Long March-10A, 10B and 10C will collectively form the backbone of China’s space transportation system,” Xinhua reported. China is also developing a larger Long March 10C variant using an all liquid oxygen-methane configuration to support satellite-constellation and crewed missions, according to Global Times. Scientific American reported that the flight validated the related Long March 10A design, which is intended to launch the Mengzhou crew spacecraft supporting China’s goal of landing astronauts on the lunar surface before 2030.

The recovery is also notable because it succeeded on the rocket’s first attempt. Scientific American noted that no other organization has achieved a flawless first-stage booster recovery on a vehicle’s inaugural launch. Global Times likewise framed the milestone as making China the second country to master vertical rocket recovery technology.

The launch follows China’s June 1 debut of the reusable Long March 12B, as previously reported, part of a broader push by CASC and other Chinese launch providers to bring reusable rocket families into commercial service.

What We Don’t Know

CASC has not disclosed the purpose or specifications of the satellite carried on the Long March 10B’s debut flight, per SpaceNews. CASC has not specified an exact date for the planned reflight of the recovered booster beyond a general end-of-2026 target, according to SpaceNews.