Shares of Chinese space companies surged after the first return of a rocket stage
Shares of SpaceX, which became the first company in history to achieve this, were down in premarket trading
China has become only the second country to successfully recover a rocket's first stage for future reuse / Photo: China Aerospace Science and Technology Group
Shares of Chinese companies operating in the space sector surged during trading on Friday, July 10. The surge was triggered by the first successful recovery of a rocket booster after launch for future reuse. China became only the second country in the world to achieve this, Bloomberg noted.
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In particular, shares of the sector’s largest companies by market capitalization—China Satellite Communications and China Spacesat—hit the daily 10% price limit. Geovis Technology shares rose 9.6%. Shares of Hunan Aerospace Huanyu Communication Technology rose 20% (also hitting the daily upper limit).
On Friday, July 10, China launched the Long March 10B rocket. After the second stage separated, the first stage returned and was successfully recovered by a system on an offshore platform, Xinhua reported. This marked China’s first successful controlled return of a first stage.
On Friday, July 10, China launched the Long March 10B rocket. After the second stage separated, the first stage returned and was successfully recovered by a system on an offshore platform, Xinhua reported. This marked China’s first successful controlled return of a first stage.
China Aerospace Science & Technology became only the third company in the world to successfully recover a booster: the first was Elon Musk’s U.S.-based SpaceX, followed by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Bloomberg noted. The agency reports that the Chinese company used a different method for recovering the booster. SpaceX shares fell 1.6% in early trading on Friday after rising 2.6% during the main trading session on July 9.
In total, there are more than 400 commercial space companies operating in China: they are developing reusable rockets, satellite constellations, space tourism projects, and asteroid mining initiatives, according to Fortune.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
