China achieved a historic milestone in the space sector by managing, for the first time, to recover the initial stage of a rocket on the ground after completing an orbital flight. The feat, carried out on August 18, 2026 by the Zhuque-3 vehicle, was conducted by the Chinese private company LandSpace in the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone.
The launch took place on August 19, 2026, Chinese time, corresponding to the night of August 18, 2026 in Brazil. After completing the orbital phase of the operation, the first part of the rocket returned to the planet and performed a vertical and controlled landing in the location designated for its recovery, in Minqin, in Gansu province.
This success marks significant progress for China’s commercial space industry, placing LandSpace among the group of companies that have already proven capable of returning an orbital rocket stage to land. The purpose of this innovation is to enable propellant components to be reused in future missions, generating savings and increasing the launch rate.
- Details about how Zhuque-3 works
- Measuring 66.1 meters in length and consisting of two stages with a singular core, the Zhuque-3 is built predominantly in stainless steel. Its engines are driven by liquid methane and oxygen, with the first stage incorporating nine Tianque-12A engines.
- The part of the rocket responsible for return has multiple systems to guide its trajectory during re-entry into the atmosphere. These include stabilizer fins, attitude control mechanisms and landing legs, which are essential for slowing the vehicle and ensuring a vertical landing after it separates from the second stage.
- The recovery process represents one of the most complex moments of the mission. After separation, the first stage must manage its reentry route, carry out additional engine ignitions and gradually reduce speed until landing precisely in the predicted location.
LandSpace had been conducting targeted trials to improve this capability. In January 2024, a prototype, equipped with a Tianque-12 engine, took off and returned vertically to the ground after reaching approximately 350 meters of elevation.
The landing took place approximately 2.4 meters from the planned coordinate, with a reduced speed of just 0.75 meters per second. In September 2024, a new experiment boosted the technology to more than ten kilometers in height, incorporating the engine’s shutdown and restart in mid-flight.
Success on the second attempt
The recent successful landing represents, for LandSpace, a significant recovery after an initial attempt that did not achieve the desired success.
The inaugural launch of Zhuque-3 took place in December 2025. On that occasion, while the second stage was successful in taking the payload into orbit, the first stage was unable to complete its recovery.
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The propellant failed in the final stage of the landing procedure, resulting in its destruction. As announced by the Chinese state agency Xinhua, an atypical combustion was recorded during the recovery effort.
Even with the setback, the pioneering mission generated crucial information for improving the system. LandSpace was able to inspect the performance of the structure and thermal barrier during atmospheric reentry, as well as the aerodynamic control and devices used to guide the stage during descent.
The company was also able to analyze the targeting algorithms during the reentry and engine restart phases. In this way, despite the failure of the first landing, the mission helped to identify the necessary adjustments before a new attempt.
Other rocket recoveries carried out by China
The success of Zhuque-3 must be contextualized, as China had already been successful in recovering an initial stage of an orbital rocket on another occasion.
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In July 2026, the country recovered the first stage of a Long March-10B after its first flight. The distinction lies in the fact that the stage was intercepted by a vessel-mounted structure at sea, rather than via a vertical legged landing.
Zhuque-3, therefore, marks an advanced phase for this technology: it became the first Chinese rocket to perform an orbital recovery on land, with the primary stage returning in a controlled manner and performing a vertical landing.
This distinction is notable because LandSpace’s approach mirrors the model adopted by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rockets. Instead of abandoning the first stage in the ocean, the vehicle employs its own thrusters to slow down and return to the ground, where it can be collected and prepared for a new launch.
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Thus, China now employs two distinct methodologies to recover orbital rocket stages: maritime interception, evidenced by the Long March-10B, and vertical landing on the ground, now proven by the Zhuque-3.
The importance of reuse in the space race
This technology is seen as strategic for the development of the Chinese commercial space segment. Zhuque-3 was developed for a new class of vehicles, designed to carry out launches with lower costs, greater transport capacity and a higher frequency.
The ability to reuse the first stage could reduce the need to manufacture new components for each mission. So, instead of building an entirely new propellant for each launch, the company can recover, verify and enlist the same stage for subsequent flights.
This concept was widely disseminated by SpaceX, which made the recovery and reuse of Falcon 9 first stages a routine procedure. China, in turn, has invested in the development of indigenous technologies to compete in this sector, both through its state-owned companies and private companies.
In the Zhuque-3 scenario, LandSpace opts for engines driven by liquid methane and oxygen, a combination also used by SpaceX in its Starship system. The Chinese rocket has a projected payload of up to 18.3 tons for low Earth orbit if the first stage is recovered.
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The successful landing, however, does not imply that China has reached the same level of operational maturity as SpaceX. Zhuque-3 is still in the preliminary stages of development, and orbital recovery on land has been demonstrated for the first time. However, this result removes one of the essential technological barriers for China to operate partially reusable launchers in a commercial context.
The expectation is that technologies like this will be applied to expand China’s ability to position satellites in orbit, at a time when the nation is dedicated to expanding large constellations of low-orbit satellites and promoting its commercial space segment.