Aug 19, 2026

China successfully achieved its first-ever land-based recovery of a commercial first-stage booster after it launched the Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket into orbit on Wednesday morning. Landing a rocket upright on its legs is incredibly difficult, a move previously mastered by only a few groups like Elon Musk's SpaceX

China's first! Private Chinese company lands Zhuque-3 reusable rocket on its legs

Uploaded: Aug 19, 2026

This mission followed the successful sea-based net recovery of the Long March-10B's first stage on July 10.

Rivaling SpaceX's Falcon 9, the Zhuque-3, developed by Chinese commercial aerospace company LandSpace, leverages advanced materials and cleaner fuels. Unlike traditional one-use rocket, 

LandSpace can reuse this booster for no less than 20 times, making space travel much cheaper.

Industry experts believe it will help accelerate the deployment of China's low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation.

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Industry experts believe it will help accelerate the deployment of China's low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation.

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ShanghaiEye魔都眼

China successfully lands its Zhuque-3 rocket, rivaling Blue ...

Scientific American

https://www.scientificamerican.com › article › china-succ...

3 hours ago — Chinese space start-up LandSpace successfully landed and recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket on Wednesday.Read more

China's LandSpace lands rocket booster; joins SpaceX ...

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com › science › landspace-nails-roc...

19 hours ago — Chinese startup LandSpace on Wednesday recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket, joining SpaceX and Blue Origin as the only private ...

China's first! Private Chinese company lands Zhuque-3 ...

YouTube · ShanghaiEye魔都眼

2.1K+ views · 5 hours ago

China successfully achieved its first-ever land-based recovery of a commercial first-stage booster after it launched the Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket ...

What people are saying

Trending posts and discussions

LandSpace landed a rocket booster this morning. It was made of stainless steel, and no steel booster had ever been recovered after an orbital launch until today, August 19th. The company had flown this rocket exactly once before, in December, when it exploded on the way down. SpaceX's own steel booster, Super Heavy, is still waiting on FAA approval to fly an orbital profile. Zhuque-3 lifted off from Jiuquan at 7.35am Beijing time, 66 metres of methane-fuelled rocket on nine engines. The stages parted at 137 seconds. The upper stage delivered the Honghu-3 internet satellite. The booster turned around, rode its grid fins down to a pad in Minqin County, 390 kilometres downrange, and dropped its legs in the last seconds before it settled. 260 days from crash to landing!! The first time SpaceX did this it took 345 days, from the failed droneship attempt in January 2015 to the landing that December. LandSpace was 85 days quicker, and the reason is not that Chinese engineers are cleve

14 hours ago

shanaka86 · X

Author & analyst

China's LandSpace lands rocket booster; joins SpaceX, Blue Origin with reusable tech | Reuters https://www.reuters.com/science/landspace-nails-rocket-booster-landing-first-chinas-private-launchers-2026-08-18/

1 upvote

30+ comments · 17 hours ago

r/space

China’s LandSpace has broken another U.S. technological monopoly: the ground-based recovery of an orbital-class reusable rocket booster. Last month, when China recovered an orbital-class booster at sea using a net-capture system, the sneer was: “That’s

5 reactions · 3 hours ago