Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
China is making rapid progress toward reusable rockets—but its latest success came with an unexpected twist. LandSpace’s ZhuQue-3 successfully completed its first orbital booster landing before apparently tipping over on the pad shortly afterward.
Meanwhile, NASA has officially ended its attempt to save the aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, bringing one of astronomy’s most successful space telescopes closer to its final reentry.
Also this week:
🚀 ZhuQue-3 becomes China’s latest reusable rocket success
🌙 LRO discovers the fresh crater left by a Falcon 9 upper stage impact
🛰️ Firefly announces a future Blue Ghost Radioisotope Heater Unit
🌕 NASA may finally replace Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
🔭 Hera reveals how Deimos was reshaped by an ancient impact
🇷🇺 Ukrainian strikes may disrupt Soyuz rocket production
🚀 ESA studies reusable Phoenix 3 while The Exploration Company advances Nyx
📈 Falcon 9 reaches another historic booster landing milestone
📅 Plus everything coming up next week in spaceflight.
Every week, This Week in Spaceflight brings you the biggest stories from across the space industry—from SpaceX, NASA and Blue Origin to ESA, China, Rocket Lab and beyond.
Follow all upcoming launches with NextSpaceflight:
nextspaceflight.com
⚡ Become a member of NASASpaceflight's channel for exclusive discord access, fast turnaround clips, and other exclusive benefits. Your support helps us continue our 24/7 coverage. Click JOIN above to get started.⚡
🤵 Hosted by Elysia Segal.
🖋️ Written by Marty Luinstra & Martin Smith.
🎥 Footage from: Jerry Pike, D Wise, NASA Goddard, LandSpace, 航太吧, NASA, NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines, Blue Origin, CCTV, DJI, 卡爾达瓦里希, 去二仙橋内大爺, Space Pioneer, iSpace, CAS Space, Cosmoleap, Katalyst Space, NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ESA, Roscosmos, Google Earth, European Union, SpaceX, Генеральний штаб ЗСУ, ATMOS Space Cargo, The Exploration Company, CCTV/CASC, Rocket Lab, CCTV/CNSA, Arianespace.
✂️ Edited by Ryan Caton.
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed).
🔍 If you are interested in using footage from this video, please review our content use policy: nasaspaceflight.com/content-use-policy
#Space #Spaceflight #NASA #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Starship #ChinaSpace #ZhuQue3 #Moon #RocketLaunch #Astronomy #Swift #ESA #RocketLab #NSF
LDAPAABJRG2UMCU3
China is making rapid progress toward reusable rockets—but its latest success came with an unexpected twist. LandSpace’s ZhuQue-3 successfully completed its first orbital booster landing before apparently tipping over on the pad shortly afterward.
Meanwhile, NASA has officially ended its attempt to save the aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, bringing one of astronomy’s most successful space telescopes closer to its final reentry.
Also this week:
🚀 ZhuQue-3 becomes China’s latest reusable rocket success
🌙 LRO discovers the fresh crater left by a Falcon 9 upper stage impact
🛰️ Firefly announces a future Blue Ghost Radioisotope Heater Unit
🌕 NASA may finally replace Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
🔭 Hera reveals how Deimos was reshaped by an ancient impact
🇷🇺 Ukrainian strikes may disrupt Soyuz rocket production
🚀 ESA studies reusable Phoenix 3 while The Exploration Company advances Nyx
📈 Falcon 9 reaches another historic booster landing milestone
📅 Plus everything coming up next week in spaceflight.
Every week, This Week in Spaceflight brings you the biggest stories from across the space industry—from SpaceX, NASA and Blue Origin to ESA, China, Rocket Lab and beyond.
Follow all upcoming launches with NextSpaceflight:
nextspaceflight.com
⚡ Become a member of NASASpaceflight's channel for exclusive discord access, fast turnaround clips, and other exclusive benefits. Your support helps us continue our 24/7 coverage. Click JOIN above to get started.⚡
🤵 Hosted by Elysia Segal.
🖋️ Written by Marty Luinstra & Martin Smith.
🎥 Footage from: Jerry Pike, D Wise, NASA Goddard, LandSpace, 航太吧, NASA, NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines, Blue Origin, CCTV, DJI, 卡爾达瓦里希, 去二仙橋内大爺, Space Pioneer, iSpace, CAS Space, Cosmoleap, Katalyst Space, NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ESA, Roscosmos, Google Earth, European Union, SpaceX, Генеральний штаб ЗСУ, ATMOS Space Cargo, The Exploration Company, CCTV/CASC, Rocket Lab, CCTV/CNSA, Arianespace.
✂️ Edited by Ryan Caton.
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed).
🔍 If you are interested in using footage from this video, please review our content use policy: nasaspaceflight.com/content-use-policy
#Space #Spaceflight #NASA #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Starship #ChinaSpace #ZhuQue3 #Moon #RocketLaunch #Astronomy #Swift #ESA #RocketLab #NSF
LDAPAABJRG2UMCU3
