{"id":428798,"date":"2026-02-16T14:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428798\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T14:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:43:14","slug":"china-achieves-historic-maritime-recovery-of-long-march-10-rocket-booster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428798\/","title":{"rendered":"China achieves historic maritime recovery of Long March-10 rocket booster"},"content":{"rendered":"

China has successfully executed its first-ever maritime recovery of a launch vehicle component, retrieving the first-stage booster of the Long March-10 from the South China Sea. This historic operation marks a monumental step in the nation’s development of reusable rocket technologies, a capability currently operational only in the United States. <\/p>\n

The successful Friday retrieval immediately followed a crucial low-altitude verification test conducted earlier in the week. During this test, the booster utilized its engines and grid fins to navigate a controlled return to Earth, splashing down safely in a designated maritime zone. <\/p>\n

The space agency also carried out a maximum dynamic pressure escape flight test for the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft system. Both the Long March-10 rocket and the Mengzhou spacecraft are key to the country’s objective to launch a manned lunar mission by 2030, while also supporting ongoing operations for near-Earth space stations. <\/p>\n

The launch vehicle program is divided into two primary configurations to meet these two mission requirements. The standard Long March-10 model is a heavy-lift rocket standing 92.5 meters (303.5 feet) tall with a liftoff weight of 2,189 metric tons. Engineered with a core booster and side boosters, it is designed to transport payloads of at least 27 tons to an Earth-moon transfer trajectory. <\/p>\n

On the other hand, near-Earth operations rely on the derivative Long March-10A. This shorter, 67-meter (220-feet) variant weighs 740 tons and features the fully reusable first-stage booster recently recovered from the sea. Optimized for the Tiangong space station, this model offers a 14-ton carrying capacity, making it more suitable for frequent spaceflight.<\/p>\n

\"Chibuike<\/a>Chibuike Okpara<\/a> – Tech Writer – 400 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2024<\/p>\n

I have always been fascinated by technology and digital devices my entire life and even got addicted to it. I have always marveled at the intricacy of even the simplest digital devices and systems around us. I have been writing and publishing articles online for about 6 years now, just about a year ago, I found myself lost in the marvel of smartphones and laptops we have in our hands every day. I developed a passion for learning about new devices and technologies that come with them and at some point, I asked myself, “Why not get into writing tech articles?” It is useless to say I followed up the idea \u2014 it is evident. I am an open-minded individual who derives an infinite amount of joy from researching and discovering new information, I believe there is so much to learn and such a short life to live, so I put my time to good use \u2014 learning new things. I am a ‘bookworm’ of the internet and digital devices. When I am not writing, you will find me on my devices still, I do explore and admire the beauty of nature and creatures. I am a fast learner and quickly adapt to changes, always looking forward to new adventures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China has successfully executed its first-ever maritime recovery of a launch vehicle component, retrieving the first-stage booster of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[268,269,262,267,261,270,266,263,129,90,416,265,264,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-428798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-benchmarks","tag-graphics-card","tag-laptop","tag-netbook","tag-notebook","tag-processor","tag-reports","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-science","tag-space","tag-test","tag-tests","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}