BEIJING, July 10 — For all the noise surrounding China’s space ambitions, the salient point is this: the man behind the country’s first reusable rocket program has spent the better part of three decades working his way up through the ranks of the state aerospace apparatus. Wang Xiaojun, now chief engineer of the Long March 10 program at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), was born in 1972 in Xi’an, Shaanxi province.
He graduated from Northwestern Polytechnical University in 1994 with a degree in aerospace engineering and joined CASC’s First Academy — also known as the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology — that same year. It would seem that his early work on the Long March 2F rocket, the vehicle used for China’s crewed Shenzhou missions, provided the foundation for what came next.
By 2010, Wang had been appointed deputy chief designer of the Long March 7 rocket, which first launched in 2016. That project, notably, earned him the State Science and Technology Progress Award in 2021. The Long March 10 program, however, is where Wang’s career has taken its most decisive turn.
Appointed chief engineer in 2019, he now oversees the development of the reusable Long March 10A and 10B variants. Wang is known within the industry for advocating reusability technology in China, and he led the team that developed the vertical landing system for the Long March 10B.
A decade in the making
The Long March 10B’s success on June 23, 2024, was, by Wang’s own account, the result of a decade of research and development. In interviews, he has stated that the program operated on a budget of approximately $1.5 billion. Wang has published over 50 papers on rocket propulsion and reusable launch vehicle design.
His academic output, combined with his hands-on engineering work, places him among the more prolific figures in Chinese aerospace. For all the technical achievements, the Long March 10 program represents something broader: China’s push to develop reusable launch capabilities that can compete with commercial operators elsewhere.
The vertical landing system developed under Wang’s leadership is a direct response to the recovery methods pioneered by companies such as SpaceX, though Wang and his team have pursued their own engineering solutions.
What to watch next
The Long March 10A and 10B variants remain in development. Wang’s team is expected to continue refining the reusability systems, with an eye toward reducing launch costs and increasing flight cadence. The program’s budget and timeline will likely face continued scrutiny, but the June 2024 success has given the project considerable momentum within CASC.
Wang Xiaojun, now in his mid-50s, shows no signs of stepping back. For a man who started at CASC’s First Academy in 1994, the Long March 10 program may well define his legacy — and, perhaps, the next phase of China’s launch vehicle strategy.
