China has landed an orbital-class rocket booster back on the ground for the first time, closing a capability gap that has given the United States an edge in military space access.
Private launch firm LandSpace said its ZhuQue-3 Y2 lifted off Wednesday from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone, delivered the Honghu 03 satellite, built by Hongqing Technology, into orbit, and then soft-landed its first stage at Landing Site No. 1 in Minqin County, Gansu Province, roughly 137 seconds after stage separation.
LandSpace called it China’s first successful recovery attempt of an orbital-class first stage using landing legs and the country’s first booster recovery on land. The landing comes a month after China’s first booster recovery ever, when state-owned CASC fished a stage out of the sea using a purpose-built vessel.
The ZhuQue-3 resembles SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in design and scale, standing about 66 meters tall and capable of lifting up to 14.2 metric tons to low Earth orbit. Its December debut reached orbit but ended with the booster exploding on the pad during the recovery attempt.
The military significance is the real story, according to The War Zone. Reusable boosters slash launch costs and dramatically increase launch tempo, both of which benefit China’s rapidly expanding military and national security space enterprise. They also narrow the commercial cost gap with the United States, where SpaceX has become the Defense Department’s dominant launch provider.
Analysts say Beijing’s path from a single recovered booster to a steady reuse cadence will be worth watching closely.
