{"id":64994,"date":"2026-08-28T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=5407444104d0756449a8f4e478b2e640"},"modified":"2026-08-28T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T17:00:00","slug":"relive-private-chinese-rockets-explosive-1st-landing-attempt-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/08\/28\/relive-private-chinese-rockets-explosive-1st-landing-attempt-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Relive private Chinese rocket&#8217;s explosive 1st landing attempt (video)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n                            \n                            <article>\n                                <iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/uiEDQHC4.html\" id=\"uiEDQHC4\" title=\"China\u2019s Zhuque-3 Rocket Finally Lands After Explosive First Attempt\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>LandSpace's first attempt to land a rocket was quite a spectacle, as newly released video footage reminds us.<\/p><p>The Beijing-based company's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/chinese-company-landspace-targets-aug-10-for-historic-rocket-launch-and-landing-attempt\"><u>Zhuque-3<\/u><\/a> launcher reached orbit successfully during its debut mission on Dec. 3, 2025 \u2014 quite a feat for any rocket.<\/p><p>But Zhuque-3 couldn't pull off the twofer. Its first stage experienced problems during the latter stages of its return to Earth, ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/chinas-1st-reusable-rocket-explodes-in-dramatic-fireball-during-landing-after-reaching-orbit-on-debut-flight\"><u>exploding in a violent fireball<\/u><\/a> near its designated landing pad.<\/p><figure class=\"van-image-figure  inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:1920px;\"><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img id=\"nQfQvgeYDLCtsCSFrAGRB3\" name=\"zhuque_explosion\" alt=\"photo showing a rocket crashing into a desert landspace, creating a massive fireball\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/nQfQvgeYDLCtsCSFrAGRB3.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"inline\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">The first stage of LandSpace's first Zhuque-3 rocket crashes while trying to land on Dec. 3, 2025. <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: CCTV)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>We recently got some up-close looks at that failed return to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/54-earth-history-composition-and-atmosphere.html\"><u>Earth<\/u><\/a>, thanks to CCTV. On Aug. 20, the state-run Chinese broadcaster released dramatic footage of the landing attempt, which includes video captured from a camera on the booster itself.<\/p><p>Those selfie shots highlight the rocket's resemblance to the paragon of reuse, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/18853-spacex.html\"><u>SpaceX<\/u><\/a>'s Falcon 9. For example, we see the rapidly approaching ground through the metal mesh of two hypersonic grid fins, attitude-control devices the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/18962-spacex-falcon-9.html\"><u>Falcon 9<\/u><\/a> pioneered and popularized.<\/p><p>The CCTV video also shows that Zhuque-3 was in trouble before it hit the ground: The booster suffered a mini-explosion during descent and was already a flaming wreck when it reintroduced itself to terra firma. <\/p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/lKGzqfQj.html\" id=\"lKGzqfQj\" title=\"Private Chinese rocket nails landing after 2nd-ever launch\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>LandSpace apparently learned some important lessons that day because Zhuque-3's second mission, which occurred on Aug. 18, was a complete success. The 216-foot-tall (66 meters) rocket delivered a satellite to orbit, and its first stage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/touchdown-private-chinese-rocket-aces-landing-on-2nd-ever-flight\"><u>stuck the landing<\/u><\/a>. <\/p><p>It was the first-ever touchdown by a private Chinese orbital rocket, and just the second by a Chinese orbital launcher of any description. The first was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/making-history-china-lands-rocket-during-an-orbital-launch-for-1st-time-ever\"><u>pulled off on July 10<\/u><\/a> by the first stage of a Long March 10B rocket, which nestled softly into a net-like apparatus installed on a ship at sea.<\/p>\n                                                            <\/article>\n                            \n                        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LandSpace&#8217;s first attempt to land its Zhuque-3 rocket was quite a spectacle, as newly released video footage reminds us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2799,1263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-launches-amp-spacecraft","category-space-exploration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64996,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64994\/revisions\/64996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}