Private Chinese rocket collapses after landing as one of its legs catches fire

China's Zhuque-3 achieved a historic landing, but a fire that broke out moments later exposed the challenges still facing reusable rockets. Here's what happened.China's Zhuque-3 rocket is seen on fire after successfully landing. (Photo: X)China's Zhuque-3, a reusable rocket, achieved a major milestone on Wednesday, August 19, when its first stage successfully soft-landed in the Gobi Desert.But soon after touching down, leftover propellant caught fire, engulfing the booster and eventually causing the towering stage to collapse.Video from the landing site in Minqin County, Gansu, shows the Zhuque-3 Y2 booster initially standing upright on its four deployable landing legs after completing its descent.The scene changed soon as flames erupted around the base as residual liquid methane and oxygen caught fire. China's private rocket company LandSpace launches Zhuque-3. (Photo: Reuters) Thick smoke billowed from beneath the rocket, with the growing blaze weakening its carbon-fibre landing legs.The stainless-steel booster eventually lost its support and toppled over.CHINA’S HISTORIC ROCKET IN FLAMES Built by private Chinese space company LandSpace, the 66.1-metre Zhuque-3 is a liquid-oxygen methane rocket designed to be reused.The rocket lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone near Jiuquan. Around 137 seconds after launch, its stages separated.The upper stage successfully placed the Honghu-03 satellite into orbit. Meanwhile, the first stage travelled roughly 390 km before beginning its controlled return.It then made a soft touchdown, marking China’s first successful land recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster using landing legs by a private company.The achievement came on Zhuque-3’s second flight. China's Zhuque-3 is pictured during takeoff. (Photo: X) During its December 2025 debut, the rocket successfully reached orbit but failed to recover its first stage.Abnormal combustion during the final landing burn sent the booster crashing near the edge of the launch pad.WHY CHINA’S REUSABLE ROCKET MATTERSReusable rockets are designed to recover and fly expensive hardware again instead of throwing it away after every launch.If the technology can be made reliable, it can significantly reduce launch costs and allow rockets to fly more frequently.LandSpace is targeting up to 20 flights per stage and plans to fly the recovered booster again within months.The achievement puts China deeper into the global reusable-rocket race, led by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Blue Origin, while India is also developing its own technology for vertically landing and recovering rocket stages.Officials confirmed that the soft landing itself was successful. Zhuque-3 is seen on fire in China after a successfull landing. (Photo: X) The fire that broke out afterwards does not erase that recovery milestone, but it highlights the engineering challenges that remain before reusable boosters can routinely land, survive and fly again.- EndsPublished On: Aug 19, 2026 17:50 IST