China launched a record 93 rockets in 2025, against 68 the year before, People’s Daily reported. The National Bureau of Statistics counts 92. Private companies flew 16 of those missions, and 14 reached their targets.
The next prize is reuse. A rocket whose first stage comes back and flies again cuts the price of every later launch, and Chinese builders now have several such designs moving at once.
State and private boosters come back
The state-owned CASC put the commercial Long March 10B into orbit and recovered its booster with a net on July 10, 2026. The rocket belongs to the Long March 10 family, which was developed for the crewed lunar programme. The single-core Long March 10A has a recoverable first stage too. The three-core lunar version of the Long March 10 is not described as reusable.
Landspace, a private company, got there by a different route. Its Zhuque-3 reached orbit on its first flight on December 3, 2025, but the booster was lost during the landing attempt. On the second flight, in August 2026, the booster touched down. Landspace became the first Chinese company to land an orbital-class booster. Zhuque-3 is rated at about 11.8 tonnes to low Earth orbit when the booster is thrown away, and about 8 tonnes when it is recovered.
Landspace already had a first to its name. In 2023 its Zhuque-2 became the first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit anywhere in the world.
Galactic Energy, known for its Ceres-1 solid-fuel launcher, sent up the Pallas-1 on September 1, 2026, Beijing time. The kerosene and liquid oxygen rocket, built with a reusable first stage, made orbit on its debut.
Setbacks and what is queued
Not every maiden flight has gone well. Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3, a Falcon 9-class kerosene vehicle, failed shortly after liftoff on April 3, 2026. Tianlong-2 had reached orbit in 2023. SpaceX’s Falcon 1, the source noted, needed four tries before it got there.
Other projects are still ahead. iSpace lists the first flight of its partially reusable, methane-fueled Hyperbola-3 for late 2026. CAS Space is developing the reusable Kinetica-2. Deep Blue Aerospace has demonstrated vertical landing with its Nebula-1 and is preparing a first orbital attempt, and Orienspace has the reusable Gravity-2 in development. CASIC is working on Tengyun, a spaceplane concept with a reusable first stage.
Policy and demand
Beijing has pushed this along on purpose. State Council directives in 2014 and 2019 opened the launch sector to private money. Hainan, Anhui and Shandong offer land, tax breaks and launch infrastructure to space companies. The Hainan Commercial Launch Site hosted its first launch, a Long March 12, on November 30, 2024.
Demand is also built in. The planned Qianfan/G60 and Guowang broadband constellations will need thousands of satellites put into orbit, which gives commercial launch firms guaranteed work.
Price could decide the export market. ITAR restrictions keep Chinese rockets from launching most Western satellites, but customers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are increasingly price-sensitive, and cheaper reusable vehicles would suit them.
SpaceX still holds a commanding lead in operational reuse and flight history. The tests to watch this year are Tianlong-3’s return to flight, the first reflight of a Zhuque-3 booster, and whether the 2026 launch total passes 93.
