China’s Landspace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket after its second orbital launch, a step that strengthens the company’s program to develop a recoverable and reusable medium-lift rocket. The rocket lifted off on August 18, 2026, at 7:35 p.m. Eastern Time, or 23:35 UTC, from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area, within the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
The two stages separated 137 seconds after liftoff, after which the first stage performed a powered and controlled landing at a site approximately 390 kilometers from the launch trajectory, in Minqin County, Gansu Province. In the final moments of the landing, the stage deployed its legs before settling into a smooth vertical landing at 7:43 p.m. Eastern Time.
What Did the Launch Carry into Orbit?
The second stage continued its mission and placed the Honghu 03 satellite into orbit, according to a statement issued by Landspace after the launch. The satellite was manufactured by Hongqing Technology, a subsidiary of Landspace’s satellite-manufacturing arm, which raised more than $191 million in the previous month.
Zhuque-3 is approximately 4.5 meters in diameter and about 66 meters tall on the launch pad, while its liftoff mass is approximately 570 metric tons. The rocket consists of two stainless-steel stages, and its first stage is powered by nine Tianque-series engines that use methane and liquid oxygen. Its payload capacity to low Earth orbit reaches 21,000 kilograms when used in its non-recoverable configuration, or 18,300 kilograms when the first stage is recovered along the landing trajectory.
Recovery After a Failed Attempt
The landing came approximately eight and a half months after Zhuque-3’s first flight, which reached orbit but failed to recover the first stage during the final stages of the powered landing. That attempt was China’s first attempt to recover an orbital booster, before another attempt by the state-owned CASC using a Long March 12A rocket also failed weeks later.
Landspace said the mission’s success moves its program from validating recovery technologies to validating reuse on an engineering scale. The company did not specify in its post-launch statement when the recovered stage would be reused, although it had previously targeted reuse during the fourth quarter of 2026.
Why Does This Development Matter?
The successful landing represents China’s second recovery of an orbital booster, after the recovery of a Long March 10B booster using a drone ship equipped with a net-based capture system at sea. Globally, Landspace has become the third entity to successfully land an orbital booster on legs, after SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The company explained that post-attempt modifications included reducing the number of engines used during the landing burn to simplify the system and improve its reliability, adding a “predicted landing point” to the autonomous safety-control system, and improving thermal protection to withstand reentry heat and structural loads. Zhuque-3 is expected to support China’s plans to build the Guowang and Thousand Sails constellations in low Earth orbit, and may also strengthen Landspace’s position ahead of its anticipated stock listing on the STAR Market. This launch was China’s 60th orbital launch attempt during 2026.