LandSpace lands reusable Zhuque-3 booster in Gansu after orbital launch

Booster recovery in Gansu

Chinese commercial aerospace firm LandSpace recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket on land following an orbital launch on Wednesday morning. The 66.1-meter vehicle lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China at 07:35 local time on 19 August 2026. State news agency Xinhua reported that the entire flight proceeded normally and achieved all test objectives. The mission successfully inserted the Honghu-3 telecommunications satellite into its designated orbit. Following stage separation, the nine-engine first stage performed a controlled descent and touched down vertically on extended landing legs in Gansu province, approximately 390 kilometers southeast of the launch site.

Materials and payload capacity

The Zhuque-3 is constructed from stainless steel, making it the first stainless-steel orbital rocket stage in the world to be recovered after a flight to space. SpaceX uses stainless steel for its Starship system, which remains pending regulatory clearance for an orbital recovery attempt. LandSpace chose stainless steel over traditional aluminium-lithium alloys to reduce manufacturing costs and increase thermal resistance during reentry. The vehicle is powered by liquid methane and liquid oxygen, providing a cleaner burn than the kerosene-liquid oxygen propellant mix used by the Falcon 9. The Zhuque-3 delivers a payload capacity of 14.2 tonnes to low Earth orbit, compared to the 22.8 tonnes delivered by the Falcon 9. LandSpace designed the first stage for up to 20 reuses.

Milestones in booster recovery

The touchdown marked LandSpace's second attempt to recover an orbital-class booster. During the initial Zhuque-3 orbital flight in December 2025, the second stage reached its target orbit, but the first stage was destroyed at the perimeter of the landing zone after failing to execute a soft landing. In July 2026, Chinese state developers recovered a Long March 10B booster using a net on a floating marine platform. With Wednesday's vertical landing on legs, LandSpace became the first private company in China to land an orbital booster, joining United States developers SpaceX and Blue Origin as one of three private entities worldwide to accomplish the maneuver.

Market expansion and launch cadence

The recovery supports China's broader effort to lower launch costs and deploy multi-thousand-satellite internet networks in low Earth orbit. Established US operator SpaceX flies its Falcon 9 approximately 150 times annually, averaging nearly three flights per week. To build out its reusable launch capabilities, LandSpace plans to raise 7.5 billion yuan (1.11 billion US dollars) in new capital. The company is seeking an initial public offering on the STAR Market, the technology board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, to fund expanded commercial launch operations. Subsequent test flights will determine whether the recovered stage can be refurbished and launched again.