China imitates the vertical landing of SpaceX’s rocket, and it’s a disaster

Beijing society LandSpace, a leading figure in the Chinese commercial space sectorhas just experienced a mixed baptism of fire. Its new Zhuque-3 rocket reached low Earth orbit as planned, but the first stage landing ended in a spectacular fireball in the Gobi Desert. This failure illustrates the difficulty in reproducing the feat that SpaceX and Blue Origin are now alone in mastering.

An impeccable takeoff from Jiuquan

The launcher took off from the Jiuquan space center on Tuesday evening, Beijing time, safely propelling its second stage into orbit. The 66-meter rocket, built from stainless steel and equipped with nine engines running on methane and liquid oxygen, can theoretically place up to 21 tons of payload into low orbit. The technical characteristics of the Zhuque-3 deliberately evoke those of the SpaceX Falcon 9with a similar architecture combining a reusable first stage and a consumable second stage.

The abnormal combustion that ruined everything

It was during the recovery phase that the scenario went off the rails. An abnormal combustion event occurred during the landing phase, preventing a smooth landing on the recovery platform, LandSpace acknowledged in a widely distributed statement. Images circulating on Chinese social media show the booster suddenly burst into flames during its braking maneuver, before violently impacting the ground near the planned landing zone in Minqin county, Gansu province.

Blain Curcio, space expert and founder of Orbital Gateway Consulting, relativize nevertheless this apparent failure to CNBC. The whole thing seems to have been more than 90% successful, with probably a structural, ignition or engine problem, he analyzes. This optimistic reading finds its justification in the proximity of the point of impact to the targeted area and the success of all the previous stages, from takeoff to atmospheric reentry.

The Chinese race against the American monopoly

The geopolitical and industrial context amplifies the symbolic significance of this attempt. Beijing actively encourages the development of a commercial space sector capable of competing with American giants. China has completed more than 100 orbital launches in 2025, with a growing share coming from private companies like LandSpace, iSpace, Galactic Energy as well as Space Epoch, which successfully completed a reusable rocket test last April.

Last October, Elon Musk himself praised the design of the Zhuque-3 on the X network, saying that the Chinese rocket could compete with the Falcon 9; while emphasizing SpaceX’s considerable lead.

This advance is measured in hundreds of launches and dozens of thrusters having flown up to twenty times each, giving the Californian company unparalleled experience and data. SpaceX itself suffered two failures before successfully completing its first Falcon 9 landing in 2015. LandSpace nevertheless maintains a leading position in the Chinese ecosystem, its previous Zhuque-2 launcher having made history by becoming the first methane rocket to reach orbit in July 2023. The company claims that the Zhuque-3, once mature, can be reused at least 20 times.

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