China's Landspace: Static Fire Test of Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket 1st Stage

China's Landspace: Static Fire Test of Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket 1st Stage

🔥China commercial rocket provider Landspace conducted the first static fire of Zhuque-3's first stage propulsion system at 04:00 UTC June 20, 2025, on the newly built Zhuque-3 launch pad. Several factors make this rocket special: a stainless steel body, nine Tianque-12A metholox engines, and 7542kN of thrust.

Beijing-based LandSpace became the world's first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket to Earth orbit in July 2023, ahead of U.S. rivals, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) was founded in 1958. It was the first of China's four spaceports. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's historic space ventures, including the country's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970 and their first crewed space mission, Shenzhou V, on October 15, 2003. JSLC is now a home for many new Chinese commercial space launch firms, like Landspace.

Image Credit: Landspace

Capture Date: June 20, 2025

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