China’s commercial space industry just crossed one of its biggest technical milestones. LandSpace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 reusable rocket after an orbital launch, putting the Chinese startup alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin in the extremely small group of private aerospace companies that have successfully recovered an orbital-class booster.
The Zhuque-3 launched from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on August 19, 2026, sending its upper stage and payload toward orbit while the first stage began its return to Earth. The approximately 66-meter-tall stainless-steel booster traveled roughly 390 kilometers downrange before performing a controlled descent and vertically touching down on four landing legs in Gansu province. The flight represented China’s first successful ground-based, landing-leg recovery of an orbital-class booster.
The achievement is especially significant because LandSpace did not simply perform another low-altitude reusable-rocket test. Zhuque-3’s first stage had accelerated as part of an actual orbital launch mission, separated from the upper stage, survived its return through the atmosphere and executed the powered landing sequence required to recover the vehicle. That is the fundamental architecture behind reusable orbital rockets such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
LandSpace had already demonstrated how difficult that process can be. During Zhuque-3’s first orbital flight in December 2025, the rocket reached orbit but the booster was destroyed during its landing attempt. Engineers subsequently modified elements of the landing sequence and thermal protection before returning for the second mission. This time, the recovery worked.
A Methane-Fueled Challenger to Falcon 9
Zhuque-3 is also technically interesting because it uses liquid methane and liquid oxygen, commonly called methalox, rather than the kerosene-based propulsion used by Falcon 9. Its first stage is constructed largely from stainless steel, an approach that also appears in SpaceX’s much larger Starship architecture. LandSpace previously made history with Zhuque-2 in 2023 when it became the first methane-fueled launch vehicle to successfully reach orbit.
Reusability could dramatically change LandSpace’s economics if the company can now demonstrate the next step: flying a recovered booster again.
That distinction matters. Landing a rocket proves that the vehicle can survive recovery; repeatedly inspecting, refurbishing and relaunching it is what converts recovery technology into a scalable reusable-launch system. LandSpace has said Zhuque-3 boosters are ultimately intended to support approximately 20 flights, while the company plans to inspect the newly recovered stage and return it to service. Reuters reports that a recovered booster is targeted for reuse within about six months.
China’s Reusable-Rocket Race Is Accelerating
LandSpace’s achievement also comes amid a much broader Chinese effort to develop reusable launch systems. Only weeks earlier, China’s state-backed Long March 10B became the country’s first orbital-class booster to be successfully recovered, using an offshore net-based capture system. Zhuque-3 followed with a more Falcon 9-like propulsive landing on solid ground.
Several additional Chinese launch companies are developing reusable boosters, creating the possibility that reusable orbital launch technology will move from something dominated primarily by a handful of American companies into a considerably more competitive global industry.
For nearly a decade, SpaceX demonstrated that booster reuse could fundamentally change launch cadence and economics. LandSpace has now shown that China’s private commercial space sector is capable of executing one of the hardest parts of that model.
The next benchmark is no longer simply landing Zhuque-3.
It’s launching the same booster again.
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