Honghu-03

The Zhuque-3 first stage flew back to a pad in Minqin County, Gansu, deploying its legs for a soft touchdown about 390 km downrange. It was China's first recovery of an orbital-class booster on land, and the first to come down on legs; the country's only earlier catch was a Long March 10B stage snagged by a shipboard net in July 2026. Zhuque-3's December 2025 debut had ended differently, with abnormal combustion during the recovery burn driving the booster into the ground short of its landing zone.

The second stage delivered Honghu-03 to low Earth orbit - a demonstrator from LandSpace's Hongqing Technology testing an unfolding thermal radiator, electric propulsion, and a 100-gigabit optical laser link ahead of mass production for a connectivity constellation.