China's reusable Long March 12B debuts with Qianfan satellites

CASC's new partially reusable Long March 12B lifted off from Jiuquan at 4:40 a.m. EDT on June 1 in a no-notice maiden flight, successfully delivering two Genesat-built Qianfan broadband satellites - the constellation's 10th batch - to orbit. The 72-meter, 20-ton-to-LEO vehicle uses nine YF-102R kerolox engines on a 4.37-meter core and is designed for propulsive first-stage recovery, though the debut did not attempt a landing; the rocket is China's most capable commercial-class lifter to date and is expected to be a workhorse for the Shanghai-led megaconstellation.