A Chinese Long March rocket carrying a communications satellite exploded shortly after liftoff Monday, the “workhorse” rocket family’s second failure this year, as Beijing races to achieve launch parity with the US.
The mission would have marked an acceleration, with a record 12 days between launches. Beijing and Washington are locked in a new space race, and despite China leading in some technologies, it still lacks a reliable reusable rocket, a US think tank analysis found: The US launched more than 2,700 tonnes of payload in 2025, mostly carried by commercial operators like SpaceX; China just 315.
Still, President Donald Trump’s former NASA administrator predicted China’s taikonauts would land on the Moon before US astronauts.