China's Long March-10B reusable rocket successfully launched and landed its booster stage on Friday, marking the first time China has partially returned a reusable orbital rocket safely to Earth. The rocket, built by China's Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, joins Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin as the only organizations to have successfully landed a rocket booster. Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated in an X post that this is a "major leap toward reusable launch capabilities." Local media reported that the rocket's first stage touched down on a barge around six minutes after launch and was captured by a large net, described as the world's first "net-based recovery" of a rocket. Landing a first-stage booster is a key milestone for reusable rockets, which lower launch costs. SpaceX landed its first booster in 2015 and has since recovered its Falcon 9 rocket hundreds of times. Blue Origin scored its first booster landing last November with its New Glenn rocket, but suffered a setback in May when New Glenn exploded on the launchpad. China is also building a rival to SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, with state-backed SpaceSail launching around 200 satellites since 2024, compared to Starlink's estimated 10,000 satellites in low-earth orbit.