China ’s space agency has unveiled an updated design of its first super-heavy reusable rocket which looks eerily similar to SpaceX ’s Starship launch vehicle. New images of the rocket, released at a major airshow in Zhuhai, China, indicate that the plan for the country’s Long March 9 rocket is a departure from the original design.

It’s often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s true, SpaceX might want to check its mailbox for a thank-you note from China. After nearly a decade of development, China’s Long March 9 rocket has undergone yet another redesign,

Since then, China has been revising the design of this rocket, named Long March 9, in response to the development of reusable rockets by SpaceX. As of two years ago, China had recalibrated the design to have a reusable first stage. Now, based on ...

China recently showed off a concept for its upcoming Long March 9, a ultra heavy-lift, reusable rocket meant to

The startup, Cosmoleap, also aims to build a rocket larger than Starship, the world's most powerful launch system.

China recently unveiled a new concept design for its heavy-lift rocket, which appears to have been directly inspired by SpaceX's Starship.

China's Long March rocket family has been growing in recent years, but the current lineup doesn't include a super-heavy lift vehicle to compete with SpaceX. The Long March 9 was announced in 2016 as a big but pretty typical rocket,