Is China’s commercial rocket now cheaper than Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9?

Name: Chinese start-up starts taking advance bookings for its first commercial space flight
Uploaded: 2026-04-01T14:00:20.000Z
Duration: 1 min 23 s
Description: Chinese start-up starts taking advance bookings for its first commercial space flight

Using the measure of cost per kilogram of payload capacity, CAS Space compares its Kinetica-2 to a US reusable rocket

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A Kinetica-2 Y1 carrier rocket, also known as the Lijian-2 Y1, with three satellites onboard blasts off from a launch centre in northwestern China on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Victoria Bela

Published: 10:00pm, 1 Apr 2026Updated: 10:41pm, 1 Apr 2026

China’s commercial space sector has reached a cost milestone as its new rocket debuts for less than the ticket price of the latest SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable launch vehicle.

The Kinetica-2 Y1 carrier rocket, also known as the Lijian-2 Y1, took off on its inaugural flight on Monday before delivering three satellites into orbit, including a prototype commercial cargo spacecraft and a satellite to function as a mini-orbiting space lab.

The rocket developed by Chinese commercial space firm CAS Space – established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences – was launched from the commercial innovation pilot zone at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China.

It cost 30,000 yuan per kilogram (US$4,350 per 2.2lbs) of payload capacity to launch the Kinetica-2, according to Yang Haoliang, the firm’s vice-president and chief commander of the rocket.

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Chinese start-up starts taking advance bookings for its first commercial space flight

Yang said on Monday that the craft’s current non-reusable launch cost was about the same as Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable rocket at US$5,000 per kg, according to Star Market Daily, a financial news subsidiary of the state-owned Shanghai Media Group.

Is China’s commercial rocket now cheaper than Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Using the measure of cost per kilogram of payload capacity, CAS Space compares its Kinetica-2 to a US reusable rocket

Using the measure of cost per kilogram of payload capacity, CAS Space compares its Kinetica-2 to a US reusable rocket