LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 topples following milestone landing

NASASpaceflight reports that Chinese commercial launch firm LandSpace successfully soft‑landed the first stage of its Zhuque‑three booster on a recovery pad in the Gobi Desert after its second orbital flight on August eighteenth, twenty twenty‑six. The sixty‑six meter stainless‑steel rocket, powered by nine Tianque‑12A methalox engines, touched down upright but a post‑landing fire ignited residual methane and oxygen, damaging one of its carbon‑fiber landing legs and causing the booster to tip over. The incident mirrors a similar leg‑failure that SpaceX experienced with a Falcon 9 booster in 2025. While the landing demonstrated propulsive recovery, LandSpace’s plan to refly the vehicle within six months now appears unlikely, according to the report.

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