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China recovers Zhuque-3 rocket stage on land

8/19/2026

29 4 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that on Wednesday morning the first stage of the Zhuque-3 reusable rocket was recovered on land, the country’s first land recovery of a rocket stage.
The recovery employed deployable landing legs for the first time in China’s program, which Xinhua called a major breakthrough in reusable rocket technology.
The Zhuque-3 rocket was developed by the private aerospace firm LandSpace.

History

Historical Context

In December 2015 SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 first stage on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, the first vertical recovery of an orbital booster. Six of sixteen test flights by 2016 succeeded, and routine reuse began in 2017. On 19 January 2024 LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 VTVL hop landed in China, mirroring SpaceX’s breakthrough and marking China’s entry into commercial reusable launch competition.

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Story summary

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that on Wednesday morning the first stage of the Zhuque-3 reusable rocket was recovered on land, the country’s first land recovery of a rocket stage.
The recovery employed deployable landing legs for the first time in China’s program, which Xinhua called a major breakthrough in reusable rocket technology.
The Zhuque-3 rocket was developed by the private aerospace firm LandSpace.

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