China successfully launches and recovers first stage of its new Long March 10B rocket
The first stage of Long March 10B after recovery
China’s state run press has now confirmed that today (July 10, 2026 in China) it successfully launched and recovered the first stage of its new Long March 10B rocket on that rocket’s very first launch.
The second link above shows the launch, cued to just before lift-off. The two images to the right come from the third link, a tweet showing the first stage captured on its recovery vessel, using a net catch system. The location of this recovery was in the middle of the South China Sea, about 300 nautical miles west of the Philippines.
Video of the first stage landing is here.
It is not clear if the launch was placing any payloads in orbit, but I will assume so, and add it to my launch count. If this changes I will update.
Either way, China has now joined a very small select group (SpaceX and Blue Origin) capable of landing and recovering a first stage. What is even more impressive about this achievement is that China did it with a completely different recovery technique — a net — that does not require legs (saving weight) that no one else has tried or proposed. Moreover, it demonstrated the ability to bring that stage down precisely and in a controlled manner.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
82 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
8 Russia
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 82 to 77.
Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the live stream and landing images and video.
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It’s not clear to me exactly how the net works, the video isn’t remotely clear enough to show it. I assume it must be drawn in from the sides once the rocket body is at the correct height. I don’t know if it enveloped the rocket from below, or just came in from the sides. You’d think if it came up from below, there would be issues with the rocket plumes intersecting parts of the netting. Although they may just consider the netting itself expendable.
It seems like this method is more forgiving of rocket positioning and possible sea state than landing on legs or trying to grab it with a claw. It will be interesting to see how it works out in terms of any possible damage to the rocket body or engine bells.
Recovering the booster is a big first step, but it’s the re-use that matters. It will be interesting to see how that goes, and if China is forthcoming with that data or not.
This method was proposed early-on in Starship’s development. It’s not so much a net, as four cables, 2 sets running parallel and 90° across the upper opening of the catch frame. Think about a tic-tac-toe board. As the rocket descends through the frame, all four cables slide on tracks toward the rocket body, and “trap” it in a web. Hooks on the side of the body, just like Starship, hang on the cables, and then the cables have payout and tensioning drives to feed cable while taking up the load.
SpaceX ultimately passed on this choice in favor of the chopsticks, I think, because the size of the booster and ship made the cable system unreasonably massive. But for smaller boosters like the Chinese LM10B, sure.
The trade between onboard legs and catch system complexity is up for debate. You do gain payload by eliminating legs, but I’d expect the rocket body structure in the catch zone has to give back some of that mass savings.
Here is a link to a video clearly showing the tic-tac-toe wires closing on the rocket, and the hook arms on the booster catching the wires.
Probably shares some commonality with catch wires on aircraft carriers.
https://twitter.com/raz_liu/status/2075473449284420083
I don’t see netting, but I do see cables that it is suspended from. It appears they’re attached to hooks that fold down after capture locking the cable in place.
Is the movable elevator like platform with scissor extensions for gripping the rocket to prevent it from swinging in high seas?
The rocket exhaust looks toxic, this must obviously be an unmanned craft. I wouldn’t be surprised to see pictures of Filipino workers without hazard suits involved in the recovery. (It’s been reported that the fish dead zones around their booster crashes)
There were rumors that the payload was a batch of satellites or a mass simulator. It was the CX(Chuangxin)-26 satellite for their StarNet and it is in orbit.
The next launch of this booster is at the end of the year. A reminder that this booster is a little smaller than a Falcon-9 with the published numbers. It would be interesting to find out if the payload numbers are true or not.
Maybe Rocket Lab could try the net option.
Is there any way to watch that video without having to sign up for X?
Here is one from Youtube Andi
I am sure there will be a compiled video from CASC with the usual triumphant music in a few days.
Andi: The trick is to click on the 3-dot icon in the upper right and click to “embed video.” It will ask you which option you want. I pick video only. It then gives you the code for embedding, but it also shows you a preview of the embed, which you can watch right there.
Thanks to both of you!
What was the black smoke coming out of the top? Next question, why does everyone ignore the most obvious visual events? Asking for an INTJ friend.
Speculation as to the smoke:
https://x.com/raz_liu/status/2075458936698990786
Drone footage
https://x.com/raz_liu/status/2075462549424971985
Scott Manley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-sPFQm-MVE
The black smoke is probably a problem that needs fixing. However the point is that they succeeded, even if the rocket still has a few problems to overcome — which is expected for any new rocket. It shows that most of the problems are relatively minor and don’t interfere with successful launches. There could still be hidden problems that do interfere, but if so then they will have to be found later.
I don’t know. It’s a solid achievement, but the whole thing seems kind of kludge; like maybe the booster’s control systems and software aren’t quite good enough to be controlled RTS-dependable. It seems unlikely that any revenue generated by increased payload mass will offset the added recovery costs.
I agree. The whole thing seems very complex, with a lot of PARTS. I can hear Musk asking, “Do we need that part? What about this piece? Can we make it simpler?”
What workable booster recovery and refurbishment of this vehicle will get the PRC is significant relief from their current production limitations anent 5-meter-diameter rocket structure. The ability to refly such a booster even once will allow the PRC to attempt a moon landing mission earlier than would otherwise be possible.
The Moon-bound versions of Long March 10 will have three 1st-stage cores, though, so at least triplicating this landing catch barge hardware would seem to be a minimum requirement before launching even an unmanned test mission to Luna. As Moon missions will require a pair of such Long March 10 “Heavies” – one for the lander and the other for the crew vehicle – the question then becomes whether or not the three 1st stage cores from mission 1-of-2 can be refurbed quickly enough to be reused for mission 2-of-2. If not, then the landing catch barge hardware might need to be sextuplicated.
I’m fairly certain that this is why Starship is designed the way it is. The experience with the Falcons shows that downrange recovery does not result in rapid reuse and has other associated costs. Downrange recovery may help put more mass into orbit than return to launch site could do, but SpaceX has shown a willingness to sacrifice payload capability for low cost and rapid reuse. It seems a miracle that Starship may be able to perform Saturn V payload capacity while being rapidly reusable at low cost and high cadence.
The techniques and technologies being developed by SpaceX seem to be excellent for the near future. I’m sure that the Chinese will eventually catch on to these lessons.
Meanwhile, the Chinese have proved their concept and are making progress toward some of the efficiencies shown to them by the western world.