Astronstone

Astronstone, also known as Yushi Space Aerospace Technology, is a Chinese launch startup developing AS-1, a fully reusable methane and liquid oxygen rocket. The vehicle is 70 metres tall and 4.2 metres in diameter, powered by a customised version of the 80-tonne-thrust Longyun engine from commercial engine maker Jiuzhou Yunjian, and is designed to lift about 15,700 kilograms to low Earth orbit expendably or 10,000 kilograms when the booster is recovered.

The company was founded in mid-2024 and has adopted a stainless steel airframe and a tower-based catch recovery scheme for the first stage, closely modelled on SpaceX's Starship and its chopstick arms. Recovering the booster on the launch tower rather than on legs removes landing hardware mass from the vehicle, at the cost of demanding far tighter guidance accuracy on return.

Astronstone completed a second stage static fire campaign in December 2025 and claims the first full-scale 100-tonne-class catch arm ground test in China. It has raised $29 million, following an earlier round of about $13.9 million, and targets a debut flight between late 2026 and early 2027.