China launches first Long March 12A, but booster landing fails
Posted: Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 9:50 AM ET (1450 GMT)
The first flight of the Long March 12A successfully reached orbit, but the rocket’s booster was not able to land. The Long March 12A rocket lifted off at 9:00 pm EST Monday (0200 GMT Tuesday) from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone at the Jiuquan spaceport. Chinese officials said that the rocket’s upper stage reached orbit, but acknowledged the booster did not perform a landing as planned on a pad 250 kilometers downrange from the launch site. Imagery shared on social media suggested that the landing was unsuccessful, potentially landing around two kilometers from the pad. The launch came nearly three weeks after Chinese company Landspace attempted a landing on the first flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket. The first stage crashed near its landing pad on that flight, but the upper stage did reach orbit.
The first flight of the Long March 12A successfully reached orbit, but the rocket’s booster was not able to land. The Long March 12A rocket lifted off at 9:00 pm EST Monday (0200 GMT Tuesday) from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone at the Jiuquan spaceport. Chinese officials said that the rocket’s upper stage reached orbit, but acknowledged the booster did not perform a landing as planned on a pad 250 kilometers downrange from the launch site. Imagery shared on social media suggested that the landing was unsuccessful, potentially landing around two kilometers from the pad. The launch came nearly three weeks after Chinese company Landspace attempted a landing on the first flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket. The first stage crashed near its landing pad on that flight, but the upper stage did reach orbit.
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