LandSpace Becomes Third Company Ever to Land a Reusable Rocket Booster

Chinese private launch firm LandSpace recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket on its second flight, joining SpaceX and Blue Origin as only the third entity to land an orbital-class booster on legs.

Chinese private space company LandSpace has pulled off a feat only two others have managed: landing an orbital-class rocket booster back on Earth, upright, on a set of landing legs.

The second flight of the company's stainless-steel Zhuque-3 lifted off Tuesday from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone near Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert. The first stage separated about 137 seconds into flight, performed a powered descent, and touched down upright roughly 390 kilometers downrange in Minqin County, Gansu Province. The second stage went on to place the Honghu 03 satellite — built by LandSpace's satellite affiliate, which raised more than $191 million last month — into orbit.

The landing makes LandSpace the third entity globally, after SpaceX and Blue Origin, to recover an orbital booster on landing legs. It also means China has now recovered orbital boosters two different ways: a state-owned Long March 10B caught by a net-equipped drone ship at sea a little over a month ago, and now a privately built Zhuque-3 touching down on solid ground.

The milestone follows a failed first attempt in December 2025, when the debut Zhuque-3 reached orbit but lost its booster during the landing burn. Engineers since reduced the number of engines used in the landing burn, added a "predicted landing point" to the autonomous safety system, and improved thermal protection. LandSpace says the mission moves it from recovery-technology verification into engineering-scale reuse verification.

Sources: SpaceNews | Space.com | TechNode