SpaceX can breathe easy: China hasn’t nailed recoverable boosters just yet. But it did have some success on the first launch of its Long March 12A reusable launch vehicle. The main spacecraft made it into orbit to deliver its payload. The booster recovery failed, however, as it missed the landing pad by up to 2KM (1.2 miles), as SpaceNews reports.
China’s national space companies, like many others around the world, have long-recognized the importance of SpaceX’s reusable rocket technology. The Falcon 9 has become the world’s premier launch vehicle for its affordability and reusability. Others are trying to catch up to this idea with Starship clones and novel recovery methods, but China’s premier effort in aping these capabilities is with the Long March 12A, and its development is coming on apace.
The latest flight attempt saw it successfully take off, stage separate, and reach orbit. The only problem was with the reusable aspect of the design, as though the first-stage booster did make it back to Earth, it landed over 2KM away from its designated landing site, with fiery results.
The Long March 12A is a 70-meter tall rocket that was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It’s classed as a medium-lift vehicle, with the capability to take up to 26,000lbs to Low Earth Orbit. That’s about 2/3 of the Falcon 9’s lift capacity when in its reusable configuration.
China is also working on the Long March 10, which is a larger, “Super Heavy” lift vehicle, more akin to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy configuration with three Falcon 9 boosters. If ever fully developed and successfully flown, it would be able to take up to 150,000 into LEO – that’s around 20% more than the Falcon Heavy can manage, and approaches early-Starship levels of lifting capacity.
The first Long March 10A flights will take place next year, with a partially reusable version without additional boosters. The full size Long Mach 10 flight tests won’t begin until 2027, however.