China beats SpaceX and Blue Origin to reach orbit with a methane-fueled rocket, edging ahead of the US in the space race

• China pulled ahead in the space exploration race by reaching orbit with a methalox rocket first.
• The fuel, based on methane, is coveted by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
• SpaceX's own methalox-fueled rocket Starship exploded before reaching this milestone in April.

China has beaten the US companies SpaceX and Blue Origin to a space exploration milestone: putting a methane-fueled rocket in orbit.

Chinese firm LandSpace launched their Zhuque-2 rocket from the Gobi Desert on Tuesday, reaching orbit shortly after. The US Space Force tracking the rocket confirmed the launch's success, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell tweeted Wednesday.

The rocket was fueled with methalox, a composite liquid fuel of methane and oxygen. Several US companies are focusing on developing methalox-fueled rockets, but all have failed to reach orbit.

That includes SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket, which was destroyed after its maiden launch in April. Relativity Space's Terran 1, which also uses methalox, also failed to reach orbit when it launched for the first time in March.

Meanwhile, the future of New Glenn, Blue Origin's methalox rocket, is uncertain after its BE-4 engine exploded during testing in June, per Space.com.

A fuel you could source from space

Methalox is a coveted fuel for deep space exploration and reusable rockets.

The fuel is lauded as cheaper, more stable, and more environmentally friendly than kerosene.

The other advantage is that it could be mined off-world, on Mars, for instance. This is a draw for companies like SpaceX that want to colonize the red planet, per Space.com.

China's private space firms are dashing toward space

This was only the second launch attempt for Zhuque-2, Redbird 2 in English. The rocket suffered an anomaly on its first launch in December 2022, per Space.com.

The medium-sized rocket, designed to deliver a payload to space, stands 162 feet tall.

While the successful launch is a marked achievement, it pales compared to the ambition of US companies for their methalox rockets.

SpaceX's Starship is about 2.5 times taller than Zhuque-2 and aims to transport a crew to the Moon. This adds a lot of complexity to the launch. Meanwhile, Relativity Space is attempting to fully 3D-print its rockets, a first in the industry.

Still, the successful launch marks another milestone in China's rapidly growing space program, which in the past five years managed to put a crewed space station in orbit, land a rover on Mars, and send a probe to the far side of the Moon.

Private Chinese space firms have been rushing into the industry since 2014, when the government opened the sector to private investment, per Reuters. LandSpace was one of the earliest and best-funded entrants, per Reuters.