China's LandSpace Launches First Reusable Methane Rocket, Recovery Fails

A Beijing-based private aerospace company, LandSpace, successfully launched China's first reusable methane-fueled rocket into orbit on Wednesday, but the mission's attempt to recover the first-stage booster ended in failure. The Zhuque-3 rocket lifted off from a commercial test zone near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert around noon local time, marking a significant milestone for the nation's growing commercial space sector.

The 66-meter-tall Zhuque-3, with a liftoff mass of approximately 560 metric tons and a 4.5-meter diameter core, generated over 1.7 million pounds of thrust from its nine Tianque-12A methane-liquid oxygen engines on the first stage. It soared southeast through clear skies, separating the booster about two minutes into flight. The second stage, powered by a single Tianque-15A vacuum engine, continued to accelerate and reached the target low Earth orbit, validating key technologies for the vehicle's reusability.

Engineers achieved several breakthroughs during the ascent, including coordinated control of the nine-engine cluster, deep-throttle operations for precision maneuvers, multiple engine restarts in space, and advanced...