China's LandSpace becomes first to recover stainless-steel rocket booster after orbital mission

China's privately owned LandSpace has become the first company to recover a stainless-steel rocket booster after completing an orbital mission, marking a symbolic win over SpaceX in the race to perfect reusable launch technology.

The Zhuque-3 rocket delivered a Honghu-3 internet satellite into its designated orbit on Wednesday morning, then brought its first stage back to Earth for a vertical touchdown at a recovery site in Minqin county, Gansu province, approximately 390 kilometres southeast of the launch pad. The 66-metre rocket, fuelled by liquid methane and oxygen, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert at 7.35am.

Commercial first for China

The successful mission makes Zhuque-3 China's first commercial rocket to both reach orbit and recover its first stage. It is also the country's second orbital rocket overall to demonstrate first-stage recovery, following the Long March-10B first stage that was captured by a net in July.

SpaceX's Super Heavy booster, which also uses stainless steel construction, remains grounded while awaiting US Federal Aviation Administration approval for its first recovery flight to send the Starship into orbit. This regulatory delay has given LandSpace a narrow technical edge in demonstrating the complete sequence of orbital delivery and booster recovery with steel-built hardware.

The achievement underscores China's rapid progress in developing reusable rocket technology through its commercial space sector, closing the gap with established players in a field that promises to dramatically reduce launch costs through hardware reuse.

Source: South China Morning Post