Comments on: China’s Long March 12A launches but fails to land the first stage https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/chinas-long-march-12a-launches-but-fails-to-land-the-first-stage/ Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:32:45 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Andi https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/chinas-long-march-12a-launches-but-fails-to-land-the-first-stage/#comment-1626667 Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:32:45 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=120154#comment-1626667 “an anomaly during the first stage’s re-entry, resulting in a ‘mushroom cloud’ formation”

Almost as good as “RUD”

]]> By: Jeff Wright https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/chinas-long-march-12a-launches-but-fails-to-land-the-first-stage/#comment-1626656 Tue, 23 Dec 2025 08:33:44 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=120154#comment-1626656 Cross pollination is a good thing in that instance
Asians have dominated math and science, while a lot of kids here are shiftless.

Sometimes I wonder if economic distress is actually a friend to rocketry.

Dwayne Day isn’t the first to notice how Alabama preserved space history better than oil rich Texas.
R-7 rose from WWII privation. China’s youth wanted more than rice paddies.

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/chinas-long-march-12a-launches-but-fails-to-land-the-first-stage/#comment-1626655 Tue, 23 Dec 2025 05:16:51 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=120154#comment-1626655 In reply to Dick Eagleson.

Dick Eagleson: I was actually impressed with the Zhuque-3 attempt. It hit the target, though not softly. Reminded me of the first five SpaceX attempts hitting their drone ships. Suggests this Chinese government-sponsored pseudo-company will succeed in ’26.

Since the government appears to require all these pseudo-companies to share data, the Long March 12A group will have access to it.

]]> By: Dick Eagleson https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/chinas-long-march-12a-launches-but-fails-to-land-the-first-stage/#comment-1626653 Tue, 23 Dec 2025 05:06:20 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=120154#comment-1626653 It seems my prediction that we would see no PRC 1st stages landing intact this year is pretty safe. But I didn’t expect any next year either and that prediction is looking shakier. We’ll just have to see how fast Landspace and whatever alphabet soup PRC government outfit was responsible for today’s fireworks manage to gear up for another go. Both the government and “commercial” parts of the PRC’s space apparat are finding out that it’s a lot easier to make rockets that look like SpaceX products than it is to make ones that also act like SpaceX products.

]]>