JIUQUAN – China launched the reusable rocket Zhuque-3 on Wednesday morning, achieving its first recovery of a rocket's first stage on land.

The Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket blasted off at 7:35 am (Beijing Time) from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in Northwest China.

The land-based recovery of the rocket's first stage was completed as planned, and the flight mission was a complete success.

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This mission followed the successful sea-based net recovery of the Long March-10B's first stage on July 10.

It marked China's first successful land-based controlled recovery of a rocket's first stage using deployable landing legs, highlighting a major breakthrough in the country's reusable rocket technology.