LandSpace · China
Zhuque-3
A stainless-steel, methane-fuelled reusable rocket from a private Chinese company. In August 2026 it became the first Chinese rocket to land its booster on legs on land.
Two flights, both reaching orbit. The booster landed on the second flight, then tipped over after a fire damaged a leg.
How it works
4 ideas that make Zhuque-3 different
A Chinese Falcon 9
Zhuque-3 follows the same plan as Falcon 9, a reusable booster with nine engines, but with methane fuel and a steel body, ideas taken from Starship.
Landing on land
Its booster landed on legs at a site about 390 km downrange in Gansu, inland China. China launches from inland sites, so its boosters can come down on land rather than at sea.
Stainless steel
Like Starship, it's built from stainless steel, which is cheap, easy to weld and strong at very low temperatures, trading some extra weight for lower cost.
Almost there
Its first landing attempt crashed; the second touched down, then a fire caused a leg to fail and the booster tipped over. Getting a booster back intact is the next step.
Watch it launch
China's LandSpace lands rocket booster, rivaling SpaceX, Blue Origin — Reuters. News report from Reuters on the first successful landing, August 2026; LandSpace has no YouTube channel.
Full specifications
Compare with other RocketsFigures are the maker's own unless marked as a third-party figure. Nothing below has been independently verified.
Identity
Size and lift
What this means
Low Earth orbit (LEO) is roughly 200–2,000 km up, where most satellites and space stations fly. Payload to LEO is the standard way to compare a rocket's lifting power. Recovering a booster costs payload, because it must keep fuel back to fly home and land.
Propulsion
What this means
Thrust is the push the engines produce. To leave the pad, it must exceed the rocket's weight; the extra is what accelerates it upward. 1 meganewton (MN) is roughly the force needed to hold up 100 tonnes.
What this means
Most new reusable rockets burn liquid methane with liquid oxygen. It burns cleanly, leaving little soot in the engines, so they can fly again with less refurbishment. Kerosene is denser and long proven but leaves soot behind; hydrogen gives the most energy per kilogram but needs huge, very cold tanks.
Reuse and record
What this means
Most rockets throw their stages away after one flight, like flying a plane once and scrapping it. Landing and reusing the booster, the biggest and most expensive part, is what has made launches more frequent and cheaper over the past decade.
Sources
Last checked 2026-10-31.