Chinese startup LandSpace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket on land in the Gobi Desert on August 19, 2026, marking the nation’s first ground-based booster recovery and ranking the firm alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin in reusable rocket technology.
Commercial spaceflight reached a new milestone in northwestern China when the 66.1-metre Zhuque-3 lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone. The vehicle’s second orbital flight carried the Honghu 03 satellite into orbit while executing a powered descent and vertical landing downrange.
Mission Profile and the Technical Route to Leg Landing
The flight marked the second orbital attempt for the Zhuque-3, following a debut flight eight and a half months earlier where the rocket reached orbit but its first-stage recovery ended in failure during final descent. That initial setback was mirrored weeks later by state-owned CASC and its Long March 12A, which also failed to recover its booster.
To overcome those hurdles, engineers implemented precise technical adjustments.
The first and second stages separated 137 seconds into the flight. The booster completed its powered descent and touched down at a landing site in Minqin County, Gansu Province, roughly 390 kilometers southeast of the launch pad. Landing legs deployed in the final moments of the burn to ensure a soft touchdown.
China’s Dual-Track Strategy for Orbital Recovery
Wednesday’s landing represents a distinct technological path from an earlier retrieval method demonstrated just over a month prior. In July, CASC recovered a Long March 10B booster at sea using a floating platform equipped with a net-capture system and lightweight hooks that engaged with steel cables.
By executing both sea-based net capture and land-based leg landings, China has become the first nation to recover orbital launch rockets using two distinct technological pathways. Meanwhile, international competitors continue to refine their own reusable architectures, as demonstrated by Japan’s experimental reusable rocket test flight.
Stainless Steel Economics and the Path to Commercial Reusability
The economic logic behind LandSpace’s design choices centers on materials and fuel. Built from stainless steel, the Zhuque-3 offers greater heat resistance and lower production costs compared with the aluminum-lithium alloy bodies common to other commercial rockets. The vehicle also runs on methane and liquid oxygen, which burn cleaner than traditional kerosene mixes.
The rocket stands approximately 66 meters tall with a 4.5-meter diameter and a liftoff mass of about 570 metric tons. Its first stage is powered by nine Tianque-series methane-liquid oxygen engines. When expendable, the rocket can lift 21,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit, or up to 18,300 kilograms when the first stage is recovered downrange.
These capabilities position LandSpace to support China’s development of the Guowang and Thousand Sails megaconstellations. The successful recovery also bolsters the company’s pending IPO bid on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused STAR Market, where the firm seeks to raise 7.5 billion yuan ($1.11 billion) to expand its reusable launch services.
Engineering-Scale Reuse and Next Operational Steps
With the ground-based landing complete, LandSpace transitions from technological demonstration and verification toward engineering-scale reuse. The company stated earlier in the year that it aimed to reuse the recovered first stage within six months, targeting a flight in the fourth quarter of 2026, though no specific timeline for reuse was repeated in the post-mission statement.
