China's commercial aerospace company, Deep Blue Aerospace (DBA), completed the country's first-ever test of kilometer-level vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) for its reusable Nebula-M1 liquid rocket on Friday, according to DBA.

After traveling one kilometer up from the ground, the rocket returned and made its landing less than 0.5 meters away from the target landing point, marking the successful recovery of the reusable launch vehicle.

It was the third time that Nebula-M1 completed a launch, and the seventh time it carried out static ground ignition, meaning the rocket's engine is ignited without launching.

The successful test makes DBA the world's second private aerospace company in the field after SpaceX in the U.S. achieved the same feat a few years ago. However, DBA took only 10 months with three launch tests where SpaceX spent over one year with eight tests from 2012 to 2013.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in east China's Jiangsu Province, DBA has committed itself to the research and development of a liquid reusable launch vehicle while providing commercial launch services.

By the end of 2024, the Chinese private aerospace company aims to complete its first orbital launch and recovery mission, officially kicking off the campaign of China's commercial operation of reusable carrier rocket.

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