By Simone McCarthy, CNN
Beijing (CNN) — China has successfully recovered the first stage of a carrier rocket during an orbital launch test, state media reported Friday – a landmark first for the country as vies to catch up with American rivals in reusable rocket technology.
The Long March 10B rocket was launched from a site on Hainan island in southern China on Friday. About six minutes after separation of its booster and upper stage, the booster returned to a floating platform, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The booster can be seen smoking at the top as it lowers vertically into the platform, a video posted by a CCTV-affiliated social media account shows.
The successful test puts China closer to matching the reusable rocket capabilities of American firms –– technology seen as key to both space exploration and travel, as well as to building out critical satellite infrastructure.
“This mission … signifies a historic breakthrough in China’s reusable rocket technology and a solid foundation for accelerating the improvement of China’s space access capabilities,” the rocket-maker China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said in a post to social media.
The successful landing follows failed tests of other rockets in recent months as multiple companies in China’s crowded space sector have raced to tick-off milestones in the development of reuseable launch technology.
Beijing aims to establish itself as a “strong aerospace nation” and has unleashed not only its national space assets but also a commercial space sector to compete with global rivals.
Developing reusable technology can significantly lower the cost and turn-around time of rocket launches. It can also provide nations a strategic advantage as space increasingly becomes a domain linked to military power and defense capabilities on Earth.
Reusable rockets form the backbone of the success of Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX, which hashed out how to land and reuse rocket boosters nearly a decade ago and now dominates the global launch market.
American SpaceX competitor Blue Origin completed its first successful landing of the first stage of its New Glenn rocket last November.
The Long March-10 series, designed and built by a subsidiary of state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., is also critical to China’s ambition to send crewed missions to the moon.
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