Meet Dai Zheng, the space veteran who left China's state program to build the country's first private reusable rocket

On Aug. 19, China's rocket startup LandSpace's Zhuque-3 rocket lifted off from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

After separation, the first stage returned to Earth and touched down upright at a designated landing site, while the second stage continued toward orbit.

The achievement marked the first time a Chinese private company had successfully landed the first stage of an orbital-class rocket on land, advancing the country's efforts to develop a capability pioneered by Elon Musk's SpaceX, Reuters reported.

It came just eight months after Zhuque-3's first landing attempt ended with its booster crashing near the landing site.

For Dai, 42, Zhuque-3's chief commander and LandSpace's deputy general manager, the successful landing also vindicated a career gamble he had made a decade earlier: leaving one of China's leading state aerospace institutions for a startup that was barely a year old.

"The final braking maneuver was executed beautifully, bringing the rocket to a stable stop on the landing pad," Dai told Xinhua after the mission, describing its overall performance as "quite perfectly."

Dai Zheng, deputy general manager of China's rocket startup LandSpace. Photo courtesy of LandSpace

Born to two teachers in Yongan, Fujian Province, Dai developed an interest in rockets while still in elementary school.

During a summer camp after fourth grade, he built a cardboard model rocket that flew more than 70 meters into the air before deploying a parachute and returning to the ground. The experience helped fuel his fascination with space.

"I used to look at the stars and wonder what was up there," he said. "Later, I began wondering how I could get there."

At 19, he entered Tsinghua University's School of Aerospace Engineering and later earned a master's degree in engineering mechanics there. In 2009, he joined the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, or CALT, China's main developer of carrier rockets. He worked on the Long March rocket program and became one of the lead architects of the Long March 5, China's first heavy-lift rocket, according to the South China Morning Post.

But developments at SpaceX were beginning to reshape Dai's thinking about the future of spaceflight. In December 2015, a SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster returned to Earth and landed upright after launch. The breakthrough showed how recovering and eventually reusing major rocket components could reduce the cost of reaching space. Dai watched footage of the landing repeatedly.

Around the same time, he met LandSpace founder and CEO Zhang Changwu to discuss how reusable rockets could transform the industry. Zhang invited him to join the fledgling company. Accepting meant giving up the security of Dai's career at CALT.

"I entered the state aerospace sector straight after graduation and never thought I would leave," Dai told state broadcaster CCTV in an interview late last year. There was considerable uncertainty, he said, but "rationally I knew I needed to take that step."

The night before resigning, he took out the awards and certificates he had accumulated during his career, spread them across his bed and cried. He joined the startup the following year.

A decade of setbacks

LandSpace was founded in 2015, shortly after China opened parts of its space sector to private investment.

In October 2018, Zhuque-1, the first rocket he helped develop at the company, failed to reach orbit on its maiden flight. The setback prompted LandSpace to develop its own liquid-fueled engines rather than rely on third-party solid-fuel technology, eventually leading to Zhuque-2. In July 2023, Zhuque-2 became the world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit, establishing LandSpace as a leading player in China's emerging private space industry.

Dai then turned his attention to the larger Zhuque-3, designed with reuse as a central goal. Recovering and reusing a rocket's first stage can lower launch costs because the expensive hardware does not have to be replaced after every mission, an approach that has become central to SpaceX's success.

For him, developing that capability also carries broader implications for China's competition with the U.S. in space.

"We cannot let the next generation look up and see only American satellites," Dai said in a CCTV interview aired in August. "If we fail to make this happen, future generations will look back and feel that our generation of space workers failed to shoulder our historical responsibility."

But Zhuque-3's first attempt demonstrated the difficulty of achieving that goal. On Dec. 3, 2025, the 66-meter rocket made its maiden flight from Jiuquan. Its first stage returned toward the designated recovery area but failed to complete its landing maneuver, crashing and catching fire. SpaceX had experienced similar setbacks before successfully landing a Falcon 9 booster on land in December 2015.

For more than eight months, Dai and his colleagues analyzed the failed attempt, conducted tests and modified the rocket before trying again. This time, it landed successfully.

The Aug. 19 breakthrough, however, is only one step toward making Zhuque-3 truly reusable. LandSpace must now establish how recovered stages can be inspected, maintained and prepared to fly again reliably. Dai said the company initially expects Zhuque-3 stages to be reused two or three times, with that number potentially increasing as more flight data becomes available. Its long-term goal is as many as 20 uses.

"This represents a blank slate in the domestic launch vehicle industry, requiring the establishment of a complete set of technical processes and systems from scratch," he told Xinhua.

SpaceX remains far ahead. Its Falcon 9 boosters routinely return from missions and fly again, helping the company launch frequently while reducing costs.

For Dai, the gap is another challenge in a career shaped by risk and repeated setbacks.

"Experiencing failure is how you gain experience," he said. "If you never take that step, you can’t get closer to success. We choose to do things not because they are easy, but because they are correct."