The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology launched the Long March 10B rocket — a space launch vehicle comparable to U.S. company SpaceX's Falcon 9 — and recovered the first stage of the system using a giant net on a sea-based floating platform, Space reported on July 10. CATL plans to reuse the first stage in a launch later in 2026.

The lack of a reusable rocket family has left China behind the United States both in the number of space launches it can perform and the cost of doing so. For example, China has been unable to rapidly launch thousands of communications satellites to build an internet service constellation like SpaceX's Starlink, which has proven to have key military implications in recent years.