China achieves successful land recovery of a rocket

The Y2 in the rocket's name signifies that the craft is the second to be built in the ZQ 3 series.

The rocket's second-stage booster separated from the first stage just over two minutes after the liftoff and continued flying upward before transporting a satellite called Honghu 03 into its preset orbit.

The ZQ 3 Y1 was launched in December 2025, becoming China's first reusable rocket to reach orbit. However, the recovery attempt failed as its first-stage booster burst into a fireball over the landing site in Minqin in the last seconds of descent.