China Masters Two Ways to Catch a Rocket No Other Nation Has Tried Both

A Historic Double Milestone in Reusable Rocketry

Within the span of just six weeks, China has done something no other country — not even the United States — has managed: it successfully recovered orbital-class rocket boosters using two completely different methods. The latest achievement came on August 19, when the land-based recovery was completed as planned, with the rocket's first stage touching down smoothly at the designated recovery site in Minqin County of northwest China's Gansu Province. The rocket in question was the Zhuque-3, built by Beijing-based private company LandSpace — and its success caps a stunning summer for Chinese space ambitions.

The Zhuque-3 is China's first commercial rocket to both reach orbit and have its first stage recovered. The second Zhuque-3 rocket lifted off at 7:35 p.m. Eastern on August 18 from Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone within the national Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The first and second stages separated 137 seconds into the flight, and the first stage completed a powered descent and vertical landing at a landing site around 390 kilometers downrange in Minqin County, Gansu Province. It marked China's first successful land-based controlled recovery of a rocket's first stage using deployable landing legs, highlighting a major breakthrough in the country's reusable rocket technology.

Two Paths, One Audacious Strategy

What makes China's recent string of successes truly remarkable is the deliberate diversity of its approach. This mission followed the successful sea-based net recovery of the Long March-10B's first stage on July 10. That earlier feat was itself historic: China became the first nation outside the United States to recover an orbital-class rocket booster — and the first program anywhere to do it without landing legs.

The two recovery methods could hardly be more different in design philosophy. The Zhuque-3 uses the now-familiar vertical landing approach — deployable legs, a powered descent, and a precise touchdown on solid ground. The Long March-10B took a wildly different route. The Long March 10B's first stage descended toward a sea platform equipped with a flexible net and hydraulic damping, arresting the booster in mid-air rather than setting it down on struts. The mechanism is deliberately simple on the vehicle side and complex on the ground. As the booster dropped into the recovery zone, a set of hooks on the stage engaged tensioned cables on the deck of the recovery vessel, and the net absorbed the remaining energy. This dual-track approach demonstrates China's commitment to developing multiple recovery methodologies, each suited to different mission profiles and operational requirements. The progression from sea-based net recovery to land-based leg-assisted landing shows rapid technological maturation within China's aerospace sector.

What This Means for the Space Race

After completing its orbital mission, the rocket's first stage attempted a controlled return and recovery, with its developers describing the mission as a key transition from technology verification toward engineering application for China's commercial aerospace industry. The Zhuque-3 also delivered a payload: the second stage continued its flight and successfully placed the Honghu-03 satellite, independently developed by Hongqing Technology, into its designated orbit. Zhuque-3 is expected to support China's efforts to build the Guowang and Thousand Sails megaconstellations in low Earth orbit.

Based on the data and engineering experience from the previous flight, the Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket introduced multiple optimizations, including reducing the number of engines ignited for landing to simplify the system and improve reliability, adding predictive landing point safety control to enhance recovery security, as well as improving its resistance to extreme re-entry mechanical and thermal loads. Meanwhile, CASC has said it plans to fly the recovered Long March-10B first stage again before the end of the year, a milestone that would provide the first evidence of how the net-capture system performs over repeated missions.

A New Challenger Emerges

The success will also have relevance for LandSpace's pending STAR Market IPO bid, and puts the company well ahead of commercial competitors in establishing a reliable medium-lift rocket and demonstrating recoverability and attempting reusability. The Zhuque-3 Y2 test comes as China's aerospace industry accelerates efforts to develop reusable launch vehicles. Multiple companies are now exploring different recovery technologies, including vertical landing and other innovative approaches, reflecting the rapid growth of China's commercial aerospace ecosystem.

The broader implications are hard to overstate. SpaceX pioneered rocket reusability and has dominated the launch market for years because of it. China is now not just catching up — it's innovating in parallel, testing entirely new recovery architectures at a pace that has surprised even seasoned industry observers. Governments are investing heavily in reusable launch technologies because lower launch costs make it easier to deploy large satellite constellations, support national space programmes, and sustain ambitious exploration missions. With two proven recovery methods now in its arsenal and a commercial launch cadence accelerating rapidly, China has made clear that the era of American dominance in reusable rocketry now has a serious, well-funded rival.