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China Becomes The Second Country To Recover A Rocket Booster 39%
By Steve Dent38%
7/10/2026, 1:10:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Representativeness Heuristic, Appeal to Authority, and Availability Heuristic, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 27.6% saturation with 99 hits. Analysis detected 681 faulty-reasoning hits from 359 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 44.2% and a BS Rank of 39% (13,553 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 61.90% of the article peer group.
China becomes the second country to recover a rocket booster
It successfully deposited a Long March 10B rocket into a net anchored at sea.
July 10, 2026 9:10 am EST
China has become just the second country to capture a reusable rocket, heralding a breakthrough in the country's space program, according to China's state television CCTV .
Footage showed the Long March 10B rocket booster descending and being caught by a net, the first time such a feat has been accomplished.
The rocket, on its maiden flight, was developed by the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).
"[The mission] marks a historic breakthrough for China in the field of reusable rocket technology and will lay a solid foundation for accelerating the enhancement of the country's space access capabilities," CALT said in a (Gemini translated) statement.
CALT used a novel system to catch the booster.
Unlike SpaceX's Falcon 9 that uses retractable landing legs (or external mechanical arms for Starship), the Long March 10 caught the rocket using hooks on a net — a world's first, the company said.
The rocket was captured intact and CALT expects to reuse it in another flight by the end of this year.
A video shows the rocket slowly descending on its own power until the rockets cut and it is apparently captured.
The grappling mechanism itself isn't clearly visible.
The feat was accompanied by cheering, presumably from CALT staff.
China intends to build itself into a space power by 2030 and its ability to reuse booster rockets is a key part of that.
Despite its aim, China's pace for rocket launches lags well behind the US.
Last year, the US conducted 193 orbital launches (165 by SpaceX alone) compared to 92 attempts for China.
CALT's first simulation at a reusable rocket recovery in February 2026 ended with the booster splashing down 200 meters from the recovery platform.
Another private Beijing-based company, LandSpace, uses a more SpaceX-like mechanical leg system for its ZhuQue-3 rocket.
That attempt came close to success but ended up in a fireball, which the company declined to show.
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100%flagged-word coverageChina's state television CCTV
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