The Chinese startup LandSpace achieved success on Wednesday by recovering the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket. This move positions the company alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin, making it one of the few private firms capable of landing orbital-class boosters, which significantly narrows China's gap with the US in reusable rocket technology.
The ability to return, recover, and reuse a booster is a critical factor for reducing costs and simplifying satellite launches, transforming space exploration into a commercially viable business model similar to civil aviation.
This achievement was recorded during LandSpace's second attempt to land the engine-equipped first stage of the Zhuque-3. This stainless steel rocket is positioned as China's response to SpaceX's Falcon 9.
According to state media, the 66.1-meter tall Zhuque-3 rocket launched from the Dunfeng Space Innovation Commercial Zone in northwestern China. The nine-engine first stage, or booster, returned to a landing site in Gansu Province, located 390 km southeast of the launchpad.
The successful landing is likely to boost investor confidence, as LandSpace prepares for a listing on the Star Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company plans to raise 7.5 billion yuan (18 billion rubles) through an initial public offering to support the development and expansion of its reusable rocket launch services. In June, the firm presented an updated IPO prospectus indicating its intention to achieve profitability by 2029.
Fourth Recovery Attempt
LandSpace reported that the Zhuque-3 is made of stainless steel, which provides better heat resistance and potentially lowers manufacturing costs compared to the aluminum-lithium alloy body of the Falcon 9. Furthermore, the rocket operates on methane and liquid oxygen, which can burn cleaner than the liquid oxygen and kerosene mixture used by Falcon 9.
According to LandSpace data, the rocket can deliver 14.2 metric tons to low Earth orbit per flight, whereas the Falcon 9 can carry 22.8 tons. LandSpace aims to reuse the Zhuque-3 booster up to 20 times. SpaceX launches the Falcon 9 approximately 150 times a year, or about three times a week, and reuses its booster dozens of times.
Wednesday's launch marked China's fourth attempt to recover an orbital booster. In December 2025, LandSpace made a historic breakthrough as the first Chinese organization to test a reusable rocket. The rocket reached orbit as planned, but its first stage failed to complete a controlled landing. Several weeks later, China launched the Long March 12A rocket, which also reached orbit but failed during recovery.
In July, China successfully tested an experimental booster retrieval system using a net capture system on a floating offshore platform, becoming the second country in the world to achieve orbital-class rocket landings. Unlike fixed landing pads, the reusable Long March 10B utilized four light hooks attached to steel cables on the platform's net system—an innovation Beijing claims simplifies the rocket design, reduces vehicle mass, and increases payload capacity.
Thanks to Wednesday's landing, LandSpace achieved China's first ever successful ground landing of an orbital booster with a support structure. LandSpace plans to reuse the recovered first-stage booster within the next six months, which, according to the company, will lay the foundation for future high-frequency and low-cost commercial launches.