In a surprise launch, China debuts another big rocket designed for reusability
It takes a village
There are sound engineering reasons to use the same approach SpaceX uses with the Falcon 9.
The first Long March 12B rocket climbs into the sky Monday over the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China. Credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
The race to field China’s first reusable launch vehicle is far less predictable than a similar competition that played out in the United States a decade ago.
There was never any real question of which company would develop and demonstrate the first reusable orbital-class rocket in the United States. SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster for the first time in 2015, and a little more than a year later, it launched it back into space. It took nearly 10 years for anyone else to do the same. Blue Origin celebrated its first orbital-class booster landing last November with the successful recoveryof one of its New...
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