The Long March 12A (, abbreviated LM-12A or CZ-12A), is a Chinese reusable medium-lift launch vehicle carrier rocket. The rocket has two stages and its first stage is designed to be reused after stage-recovery via propulsive landing. Both stages of the rocket will use methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX) for propulsion. The rocket is manufactured by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST).
The first flight occurred on 23 December 2025 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center with a successful orbital launch but the first-stage recovery was unsuccessful.
Rocket Characteristitcs
The project that eventually led to the current CZ-12A was initiated in 2021 under the codename "XLV21"; reusability was part of the original goals of the project although the initial design of the future rocket was more ambitious than the current Long March 12A (the future CZ-12B may meet the original project goals).
First stage
The Long March 12A's first stage hull is composed of 2219 aluminum alloy, a legacy from the standard Long March 12's first stage hull. However, unlike the CZ-12, the "A" variant employs CH4 and LOX for propulsion, and in a first for the Long March series of rockets, the CZ-12A's first-stage features seven units of the Longyun-70 reusable rocket engine, developed by the private company "Jiuzhou Yunjian"; the engines provide the rocket with a total of about 5,215 kilo-Newtons of thrust at liftoff. The first stage mounts four "T-tail" fins near the bottom to provide for flight stability and also includes four aluminum alloy landing legs each with a length of approximately 5.7 metres.
Inter-stage
The rocket inter-stage includes four segmented 3D-printed fins and four single-drag element automatic control systems.
Second stage
The second stage of the rocket features a single unit of the YF-209V reusable methane/LOX engine. The stage's hull is built using 2195 aluminum alloy. The stage also features two automatic flight control units.
Rocket fairing
There are two possible fairing types for payload enclosure: one type with a diameter of 4.2 metres and a second type with a diameter of 5.2 metres.
Overall characteristics
At liftoff, the rocker has a mass of about 437 tonnes and a liftoff thrust of approxiately 5,215 Newtons, Its height is about 69-70 metres. When the first-stage is set on a return-landing trajectory, the CZ-12A's LEO payload capacity is no less than 6 tonnes; its 500 km sun-synchronous orbit payload capacity is no less than 3 tonnes. The rocket's LEO payload capacity is no less than 9 tonnes when the first-stage is used in an expendable mode.
Possible future developments
The current configuration of the rocket may be improved in the future. Improvements may include increasing the thrust of each Longyun engine to about 85 tonnes, and adding two additional units of these improved engines to the first-stage (for a total of nine), thereby increasing the total liftoff thrust of the rocket by about 45 percent. It is unclear if such improvments will be implemented on the CZ-12A or on the planned Long March 12B carrier rocket.
Development History
On June 23, 2024, SAST conducted its first VTVL test article for CZ-12A at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, likely the same test pad used for iSpace's VTVL experiments. The test article featured three engines, the center of which would remain on during the entire flight. It also featured landing legs, which successfully deployed for the landing. The test lasted around 5 minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of around 10 km
On January 19, 2025, SAST launched a VTVL test-stage to a height of 75 km to simulate the launch and recovery of the first stage of the future CZ-12A. The outcome of the test is unknown.
In August 2025, SAST conducted a static fire test of the upper stage of the CZ-12A at the Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Maiden flight
The first flight of the CZ-12A occurred at 2:00 UTC on 23 December 2025, from a dedicated launch site located at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The launch successfully reached orbit with what appears to be a mass simulator. However, the rocket's first-stage landing attempt was a failure.
Launch statistics
List of launches
See also
- Long March 12
- Comparison of orbital launcher families
- Comparison of orbital launch systems
- Reusable launch vehicle
- Expendable launch system
- Lists of rockets
Launch systems of comparable class and technology
(Reusable methane-fueled medium lift-off systems)
References
- Jack Congram. Rocket hopping season begins in China! [CASC-SAST 10km Test Flight] China in Space, June 25, 2025, retrieved September 20, 2025^
- 长征12r 10kmvtvl试验现场视频 bilibili, June 3, 2025, retrieved September 20, 2025^
- Andrew Jones. China to debut new Long March and commercial rockets in 2025 spacenews.com, 2 January 2025, retrieved 3 January 2025^
- China performs high altitude reusable rocket test with uncertain outcome SpaceNews, 20 January 2025^
- 海商发团队自研"东方航天港"号助力星途探索，创下海上高频次连续发射新纪录！ 海商发, 23 August 2025^
- Re: Maiden - CZ-12A (Y1) - Jiuquan - December 23, 2025 (02:00 UTC) - Landing Failure nasaspaceflight.com, 23 December 2025, retrieved 23 December 2025^
- Andrew Jones. Long March 12A reaches orbit in first reusable launch attempt, but landing fails spacenews.com, 23 December 2025, retrieved 23 December 2025^
- China Long March 12A Fails First-Stage Recovery aviationweek.com, retrieved 2025-12-23^
- Demo Flight nextspaceflight.com, retrieved 2025-12-22^