China launched and partially recovered a rocket, state media said, a milestone for Beijing's space program as it competes with the U.S. and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The Long March-10B, in its maiden flight, was launched into orbit around noon on Friday from southern Hainan province. Minutes later, a giant net caught the rocket's booster upon its descent, footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed. It was the first time China has successfully displayed rocket-recovery technology.

SpaceX, whose customers include the U.S. government, was first to recover a section of its Falcon 9 rocket in 2015, providing a crucial advantage to the U.S. space program. Musk's company has been able to reuse expensive materials between launches, while China has been forced to rely on disposable rockets.

Beijing has been on a yearslong drive to transform itself into a space power, sending more satellites into orbit and encouraging its commercial space sector to challenge SpaceX. China also aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Experts said that while China still lags behind the U.S. in space capabilities, it is catching up quickly, as shown by Friday's launch.

Sam Bresnick, a research fellow who studies China at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said it would be a "big deal" if China's space program can regularly recover and reuse parts of its rockets.

"It pretty radically decreases the cost of building out these giant satellite constellations that China has made very clear that it wants to build out," Bresnick said. He added that Beijing was investing in space technology for both its economic and military applications.

The successful launch will "lay a solid foundation for accelerating the improvement of the country's space access capabilities," said China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the state-owned firm that developed the rocket.

China's rocket is around 200 feet tall with a payload of more than 16 metric tons, state media reported. The recovery net to catch the rocket was mounted on top of a seaborne platform and represented the first net-based rocket launch recovery, according to the state-owned firm. The company said it expected to reuse the recovered booster by the end of the year.

Two previous Chinese attempts to recover rockets in December failed.

Write to Katrina Northrop at katrina.northrop@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2026 10:42 ET (14:42 GMT)

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