China's reusability push: first booster reflight, CZ-12A landing retry and Tiangong cargo start-ups
China is preparing to refly the Long March 10B booster it caught at sea in July, a second Chang Zheng 12A will retry a landing no earlier than November 3, and the Guowang broadband network has reached 222 satellites.
China is lining up three reusability milestones before the end of the year: the first reflight of an orbital-class booster, a second landing attempt by the Chang Zheng 12A, and the start of commercial cargo runs to its Tiangong space station, according to a round-up published by NASASpaceflight on October 21 (reported). Its two state-backed broadband megaconstellations are also moving towards consumer service.
What happened
- First reused booster. The Long March 10B first stage that was caught by a net aboard the recovery vessel Linghangzhe on July 10 is being refurbished in Tianjin and is expected to become China's first reflown orbital-class booster (reported, NASASpaceflight; China in Space). The July recovery was China's first retrieval of an orbital-class stage (reported, Reuters citing CCTV).
- New pad. The rocket's transporter-erector has been testing at the new Commercial Launch Site 3 next to Wenchang in Hainan, including the water deluge system. A Long March 10B debut from pad 3 or 4 is expected before year-end, likely on the reused stage, though that is not officially confirmed (reported).
- Chang Zheng 12A retry. The CZ-12A reached orbit on its December 2025 debut but its booster crashed about 5 km from its target when one of three engines failed to restart. A second flight is expected no earlier than November 3 (reported, NASASpaceflight). So far only Landspace's ZhuQue-3 has landed a first stage on land in China.
- Tiangong cargo. A second Qingzhou cargo craft is due no earlier than January 2027 on CAS Space's Lijian-2, carrying up to 1,800 kg to the station. AVIC's reusable Haolong spaceplane, designed for about 2,000 kg of up- and downmass, has an orbital-launch tender capped at 100 million yuan (about $14.9 million) (reported).
- Broadband. A Chang Zheng 12 launch on October 9 took the Guowang (SatNet LEO) constellation to 222 satellites, and the Long March 10B is set to carry 18 Guowang satellites per flight. Rival network Qianfan plans to start service in China by the end of the year (reported, NASASpaceflight). China Rocket has said the "first-generation enhanced system" is 216 spacecraft on at least 12 Long March 10B flights through 2027 (reported, China in Space).
- Cadence. Chinese orbital launches are up nearly 14% on the same point last year and 48% on 2024 (reported, NASASpaceflight).
Why it matters for space investors
Reusable boosters are what made SpaceX's launch costs, and Starlink's deployment speed, hard to match. If China reflies a booster this year and starts launching 18 Guowang satellites at a time, its constellations could grow much faster, which matters for Western broadband and direct-to-device players such as SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile and Eutelsat-OneWeb competing for international markets. Both Guowang and Qianfan are expected to reach at least 13,000 satellites, and Qianfan already has ground stations in Brazil and Malaysia (reported).
None of the Chinese companies involved are easy for Western investors to buy, so the main read-across is competitive pressure on launch pricing and on satellite broadband outside China. Track upcoming launches on our calendar, and see our coverage of SpaceX's Q3 results. Not financial advice.
