By Eduardo Baptista

BEIJING, Dec 3 (Reuters) – China’s Zhuque-3 reusable rocket, developed by private firm LandSpace, failed to make a successful landing on Wednesday, but its debut launch has thrust the global race for reusable rockets into the spotlight.

The stainless steel launcher is designed to put satellites into orbit and then fly its main stage back to Earth for a vertical landing – with the aim of using it again.

If LandSpace can make that work consistently, it would become the first Chinese company – and only the third in the world after SpaceX and Blue Origin – to recover the main stage of an orbital rocket for reuse.

Below is the state of play on reusable rocket technology:

SPACEX

SpaceX in the U.S. is so far the only company that has managed to land and fly again the mai

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