LandSpace lands Zhuque-3 booster, becoming first private Chinese company to recover an orbital stage

Chinese startup LandSpace has successfully recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket, marking the first time a private Chinese company has landed an orbital-class booster. The feat puts LandSpace alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin in a tiny group of companies that have demonstrated this kind of reusable rocket technology, a key step toward lowering launch costs and making space flights more frequent. It also underscores China’s rapid push to narrow the gap with the United States in commercial spaceflight and reusable launch systems.