China recovers rocket stage on land for first time, after earlier recovery at sea

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BEIJING (AP) — China has successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket on land for the first time, state media reported Wednesday, as the country seeks to advance its space program.

Although this marks China’s first successful recovery on land, it is the second time the country has recovered a rocket stage, following a successful recovery on a sea platform in July.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said the reusable rocket, Zhuque-3, was launched Wednesday morning and that the rocket's first stage was recovered afterward.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been recovering rockets since 2015, helping drive down launch costs by reusing hardware that would otherwise be discarded after carrying satellites and other payloads toward space.

Xinhua said that Wednesday's recovery also marked China's first use of deployable landing legs and deemed the result “a major breakthrough in the country’s reusable rocket technology.”

On July 10, the first stage of a Long March-10B rocket separated from the second stage after liftoff and returned to a platform at sea. That time, it was recovered using a net-capture system.

The next day, on July 11, Japan conducted the first test flight of an experimental reusable rocket, which took off and safely landed.

Japan is also trying to catch up with the technology needed to cut launch costs and compete in the global space market.