China's reusable rocket makes it to orbit but fails to stick the landing

There's good news and bad news for the Chinese commercial launch industry. The good news is that LandSpace's ZhuQue-3 launched successfully on its maiden flight. The bad news is that a hoped-for recovery of the first stage ended in a fireball.

The rocket launched on December 3, 2025, and successfully reached orbit. ZhuQue-3 is a two-stage rocket capable of lofting slightly more than 18 metric tons if the first stage is recovered (the figure is slightly higher if no recovery is attempted).

We're sure that any similarities with SpaceX's Falcon 9 are purely coincidental. Nine Tianque-12A engines power the ZhuQue-3 first stage, and the plan is for the booster to land vertically. Each booster should be good for at least 20 reuses, making it handy for building a satellite constellation (and the payload means plenty of satellites can be carried on a single launch).

There is ...