{"id":286681,"date":"2026-02-12T01:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/286681\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T01:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:24:10","slug":"china-showcases-new-moon-ship-and-reusable-rocket-in-one-extraordinary-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/286681\/","title":{"rendered":"China showcases new Moon ship and reusable rocket in one extraordinary test"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

A Chinese Long March 10 booster, powered by seven kerosene-fueled YF-100K engines, lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island on February 11, 2026 (local time).<\/p>\n

\n Credit:
\n Liu Yang\/VCG via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

\n A Chinese Long March 10 booster, powered by seven kerosene-fueled YF-100K engines, lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island on February 11, 2026 (local time).<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/p>\n

Liu Yang\/VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mengzhou, which means \u201cdream vessel\u201d in Chinese, is scheduled for its first orbital test flight later this year. The spacecraft will launch on a Long March 10A rocket and dock with China\u2019s Tiangong space station in low-Earth orbit. The Long March 10A, optimized for low-Earth orbit flights, will consist of a single reusable first-stage booster flying in combination with an upper stage. The full-size Long March 10, with 21 engines on three first-stage boosters connected together, will have the power to place payloads up to 70 metric tons into low-Earth orbit, and enough energy to propel the 26-metric-ton Mengzhou spacecraft to the Moon.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s leading state-owned space industry contractor, the China Aerospace and Science Technology Corporation (CASC), said the recovery of the Long March 10 booster after the in-flight abort test lays the foundation for \u201csubsequent full-profile flight tests\u201d and marks a \u201csignificant step\u201d for China in \u201cmastering reusable rocket technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flight test further evaluated several key technologies, including the reliability of multiple engine restarts and high-altitude ignition during the rocket\u2019s reentry phase, adaptability to complex force and thermal environments, and high-precision navigation control during the reentry phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

CASC oversees a sprawling industry of rocket and spacecraft manufacturers, including those responsible for designing and building the Mengzhou spacecraft and Long March 10 rocket.<\/p>\n


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The Mengzhou capsule splashes down in the South China Sea after the in-flight abort test.<\/p>\n

\n Credit:
\n China Manned Space Agency\n <\/p>\n

\n The Mengzhou capsule splashes down in the South China Sea after the in-flight abort test.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/p>\n

China Manned Space Agency<\/p>\n

The successful splashdown and recovery of the Long March 10 booster continues a busy period for China\u2019s reusable rocket initiatives. No fewer than 10 Chinese companies are working on reusable rockets at different levels of maturity, all seeking to match the success of SpaceX\u2019s reusable rocket program<\/a> in the United States.<\/p>\n

In December, two Chinese launch providers debuted new rockets\u2014the Zhuque-3<\/a> and Long March 12A<\/a>\u2014with recoverable and reusable boosters. The rockets reached orbit, but their boosters missed their landings downrange from their launch pads.<\/p>\n

Several Chinese companies have also completed high-altitude \u201chop tests\u201d to evaluate vertical takeoff and vertical landing technologies ahead of launching their first orbital flights.<\/p>\n

These advancements in China\u2019s reusable rocket and lunar exploration programs come as NASA prepares to launch a crew of four astronauts on a loop around the far side of the Moon as soon as next month. A US-made lunar lander is likely still a few years away from being ready to transport crews to and from the lunar surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Chinese Long March 10 booster, powered by seven kerosene-fueled YF-100K engines, lifts off from the Wenchang Space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-286681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}