How Chang Zheng 9 arrived at the “Starship-like” design

Published by NASASpaceflight on 04/28/2023 UTC

China has been very agile in developing its super-heavy lift vehicle Chang Zheng 9 (CZ-9). It initially started as a fully expendable rocket, like the Ares V or SLS rockets, but over the years developed into at first a partially reusable concept, and recently, with Starship becoming more real, it changed its design again to become a fully reusable launch vehicle. Today we want to look at the road to that design.

Continue Reading >