What Happened
Chinese Rocket Company Beats SpaceX With Historic Feat
China’s LandSpace has successfully recovered a stainless-steel booster after an orbital launch, marking a major milestone in the country’s efforts to develop lower-cost, reusable rockets. The Zhuque-3 rocket delivered a Honghu-3 internet satellite into its designated orbit, while its first stage returned to Earth and touched down vertically at a recovery site. This achievement makes LandSpace the fourth entity to recover a launch vehicle, after SpaceX, Blue Origin, and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The successful mission was reported by the South China Morning Post.