China’s commercial space company LandSpace successfully lands and recovers a stainless-steel rocket booster for its Zhuque-3 rocket after an orbital launch, demonstrating reusable technology. The company achieves the landing on its second attempt, focusing on recovering the engine-packed first stage.
The mission positions Zhuque-3 as the first Chinese commercial rocket to both reach orbit and recover its first stage, according to reporting. South China Morning Post frames the result as a major step toward lowering launch costs through reuse, and compares it with progress by other firms. SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster, also made of stainless steel, is described as awaiting U.S. FAA approval for its first similar attempt, indicating timelines differ across companies and regulatory environments. Business Line emphasizes LandSpace’s landing milestone for the Zhuque-3 first stage, marketed as a stainless-steel system intended to compete in capability and cost with reusable architectures such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
