FPI / February 20, 2026
By Richard Fisher
On Feb. 11, 2026 China began its push to the Moon, testing an early version of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Long March-10 space launch vehicle (SLV) that is expected to take Chinese astronauts to the Moon in 2029 or 2030.
This was a relatively safe “sub-orbital” test, meaning it did not reach orbit, of the Long March-10A, a single-stack version of the 5-meter diameter Long March-10 that will become the new workhorse for the Chinese space program, taking astronauts and cargo to the Chinese Space Station, succeeding the Long March-2F.
The Feb. 11 mission had two goals: the first was to conduct an in-flight test of the crew escape system, which successfully detached the new “Mengzhou” crewed space capsule from the booster; a ground-launched test of the crew escape system was conducted on June 17, 2025.
A second goal was to conduct a near test of its unique at-sea barge-based first stage recovery system, which apparently was a planned partial success inasmuch as the first stage landed close by the recovery system.
While many Chinese-source illustrations indicate that the first stage of the Long March-10 may eventually be equipped with recovery landing-legs that will enable recovery to locations on the ground, most likely near launch sites, the Long March-10A test revealed a unique first stage recovery system.
This recovery system uses an at-sea powered barge equipped with a large scaffold system, that uses movable cables to catch the descending first stage without landing directly on the barge.
This “cable-catch” was revealed at the 2024 Zhuhai Airshow by CASC as a means to recover the first stage of the much larger Long March-9 SLV, that may not be tested until 2032.
One advantage of the cable-catch system is that it allows for a reduction in the weight of the first stage by dispensing with landing legs, which in turn allows more fuel to be used to loft a higher payload.
The disadvantage is that the complex cable-scaffolding requires waiting for relatively calm seas, that could affect the ability to meet “launch window” timing requirements that may affect the success of the mission.
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