China achieves historic milestone: successfully lands launched rocket

China has reached another major milestone in space technology. The country has successfully returned a reusable rocket booster to Earth for the first time. This result is considered one of the most significant achievements in China's modern space program.

It is reported that Long March 10B rocket was launched into space from Hainan Island on July 10. After the flight, the booster, which separated from the upper part of the rocket, returned vertically after about six minutes and landed precisely on a special floating platform at sea.

Experts believe this success further enhances China's potential to compete with leading US companies in reusable rockets. Today, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin are actively using this technology.

Most conventional rockets are used once and their main parts are destroyed after flight. Therefore, each launch requires significant funds. Reusing boosters allows for a significant reduction in the cost of space flights.

It is worth noting that SpaceX in 2015 Falcon 9 successfully landed its rocket booster for the first time. Currently, this rocket performs hundreds of flights per year, and its boosters are reused dozens of times.

China conducted its first test in this direction in February of this year with the Long March 10A rocket model. The new Long March 10B is capable of carrying at least 16 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit and is being compared to Falcon 9 in terms of technical capabilities.

However, China uses a different solution for landing rockets. While Falcon 9 lands independently on land or a drone ship, Long March 10B is secured to a special net installed on a floating platform using special landing hooks.

This success also had a positive impact on the stock market. Following the news, China Spacesat and China Satellite Communications company shares rose by nearly 10 percent.