Signal LandSpace Becomes First Commercial Chinese Company to Land an Orbital-Class Booster

Summary

On August 19, 2026 at 07:35 Beijing time, Chinese commercial launch firm LandSpace flew its Zhuque-3 Y2 reusable launch vehicle from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone inside the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The first and second stages separated 137 seconds after liftoff. The first stage executed a powered descent, deployed landing legs in the final moments of the landing burn, and made a soft vertical touchdown at a landing zone about 390 kilometers downrange in Minqin County, Gansu Province. The second stage continued to orbit and deployed the Honghu 03 satellite. LandSpace stated the mission marks China's first-ever successful recovery of an orbital-class launch vehicle first stage using landing legs, and China's first successful booster recovery on land. The flight came eight and a half months after the Zhuque-3 debut mission, which reached orbit in December 2025 but lost the first stage during its landing burn. The company describes the flight as a pivotal test as the vehicle transitions from technology demonstration toward operational reuse. Original daily-scan entry was tagged [검증 보류] on 2026-08-19 because the outcome was unconfirmed at handover time; it was adjudicated as adopted by the 2026-08-25 weekly pick after cross-verification with SpaceNews, Spaceflight Now, Scientific American and CGTN.