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Major Story (7/10)
Event date: August 5, 2026 at 07:56 AM
China's LandSpace Lands Reusable Rocket Booster, Closing Gap With SpaceX
China's LandSpace recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket on Wednesday, according to Reuters. That makes LandSpace the third private company in the world, after SpaceX and Blue Origin, to successfully land an orbital-class booster.
Landing and reusing a booster is the single biggest reason SpaceX broke the cost curve on spaceflight. Reuters reports the achievement came on LandSpace's second attempt to land the Zhuque-3's engine-packed first stage, a stainless-steel rocket the company has openly modeled on SpaceX's Falcon 9.
The numbers are specific. The 216-foot Zhuque-3 lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in northwestern China, according to Reuters, citing Chinese state media. The nine-engine booster came down 242 miles southeast of the launch pad in Gansu province. Caixin Global reports the rocket also delivered LandSpace's Honghu-03 satellite into orbit, with stage separation happening about 137 seconds into flight.
LandSpace says the Zhuque-3 booster is built to be reused up to 20 times. Compare that to SpaceX, which Reuters notes launches the Falcon 9 roughly 150 times a year and has reused individual boosters dozens of times. LandSpace has real ground to make up. But the company claims some technical advantages: stainless steel construction that resists heat better and costs less to produce than the Falcon 9's
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