(MENAFN- Live Mint) Private Chinese space company LandSpace launched its Zhuque-3, a reusable rocket, into orbit but was unsuccessful in its historic attempt to re-land the rocket booster on Wednesday. This marked the first such attempt by a Chinese firm, as the country's expanding commercial space sector seeks to compete with American companies like SpaceX, according to a report by CNN.

The Beijing-based company successfully launched its Zhuque-3 rocket from a remote desert site in northwestern China. The rocket reached orbit as intended, but its first stage, the part that provides initial thrust, did not land successfully and instead crashed to the ground, the report said, citing the company.

“An anomaly occurred after the first-stage engine ignited during the landing phase, preventing a soft landing on the designated recovery pad," the company was quoted as saying.“The debris landed at the edge of the recovery area, resulting in a failed recovery test.”

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The company said it would conduct a comprehensive review and continue to“advance the verification and application of reusable rocket technology in future missions,” the statement added.

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Despite the current attempt being unsuccessful, the trial has positioned the company at the forefront of a group of Chinese firms competing to develop reusable rocket technology that Beijing hopes will boost its rivalry with international competitors.

Reusable rockets are viewed as crucial because the technology can notably reduce the cost and turnaround time of rocket launches, a clear advantage as global companies compete to expand satellite networks and plan for a future space travel industry.

The technology also offers a strategic benefit for a country, as space increasingly becomes a domain tied to military strength and defence on Earth.

Competition with SpaceX

LandSpace's actions have attracted close attention from competitors both domestically and internationally, with SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently commenting on the preparations for the Zhuque-3 launch.

In October, Musk announced on X that the company had incorporated features of his Starship vehicle into a Falcon 9 design, aiming to surpass Falcon 9, specifically regarding SpaceX's reusable launch system vehicle.

However, he also predicted it would take the company“over 5 years to reach Falcon 9 levels of reliability and production/launch rate.” By that time,“SpaceX will have transitioned to Starship and be doing over 100 times the annual payload to orbit of Falcon,” Musk said.

Reusable rockets are the foundation of Elon Musk's company SpaceX, which developed methods to land and reuse rocket boosters nearly a decade ago and now leads the global launch market.

American SpaceX competitor Blue Origin achieved its first successful landing of the first stage of its New Glenn rocket last month, coinciding with the launch of two satellites headed for Mars. This milestone came after a failed booster landing attempt earlier this year. Similarly, SpaceX also faced initial setbacks in its early landing attempts.

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