China fires off its new Long March 12B in a surprise maiden flight without safety alerts
China launched the Long March 12B, a reusable commercial rocket, on June 1, 2026 from Inner Mongolia to deploy a batch of Qianfan satellites. The maiden flight reportedly occurred without a public airspace warning, prompting questions about safety notifications; CASIC confirmed the launch after liftoff and plans a future first-stage recovery test. With ~22 tons to low-Earth orbit, the 12B advances China’s push to build satellite megaconstellations to rival SpaceX’s Starlink.