Space Pioneer

BPrivateFounded 2019🇨🇳Beijing, China

CEO

Kang Yonglai

Overview

Space Pioneer (Beijing Tianbing Technology), founded in 2019 by former LandSpace CTO Kang Yonglai, develops kerosene-liquid oxygen rockets and engines. Its Tianlong-2 became the first privately developed Chinese liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit (April 2023). The company's flagship is the reusable, Falcon 9-class Tianlong-3 (~17 t to LEO), built for China's satellite-internet constellations, but its April 2026 maiden flight failed about 33 seconds after liftoff. Space Pioneer has raised roughly $764M.

Main Products

Tianlong-2

Active

Two-stage kerosene-liquid oxygen orbital rocket; the first privately developed Chinese liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit.

Reached orbit on its April 2, 2023 maiden flight carrying the Jinta cubesat to sun-synchronous orbit; one successful flight to date.

Payload to LEO2,000 kg

Payload to SSO1,500 kg (500 km)

Height32.8 m

PropellantKerosene / LOX

First Stage Engines7 x TH-11 (kerolox)

Maiden FlightApr 2, 2023 (success)

Tianlong-3

In Development

Two-stage kerolox rocket with a reusable first stage, designed as a Falcon 9-class vehicle able to loft up to ~36 satellites at once for China's satellite-internet constellations.

Maiden flight on April 3, 2026 failed after an engine-bay explosion ~33 seconds after liftoff. A second vehicle is reportedly nearing completion for a possible second attempt before the end of 2026.

Payload to LEO~17,000 kg

Payload to SSO14,000 kg (500 km)

First Stage Engines9 x TH-12 (~100 tf each)

PropellantKerosene / LOX

ReusableYes (first stage)

Maiden FlightApr 3, 2026 (failure)

What's Next

Tianlong-3 return to flight

Complete the investigation into the April 2026 engine-bay failure and fly a second Tianlong-3, reportedly nearing completion, with a possible attempt before the end of 2026.

2026

Demonstrate first-stage recovery and reuse

Move beyond reaching orbit to recovering and reflying the Tianlong-3 first stage, the core of Space Pioneer's low-cost launch strategy.

2026-2027

Scale launch cadence for constellations

Ramp Tianlong-3 production and flight rate to serve China's national satellite-internet mega-constellation deployment.

2027+

Operations & Revenue

StatusDevelopment Stage

Tianlong-2 has flown one successful orbital mission (2023), but the flagship reusable Tianlong-3 failed on its April 2026 maiden flight after an engine-bay explosion ~33 seconds into flight. A second Tianlong-3 is reportedly nearing completion for a possible second attempt before the end of 2026 as the company works through a failure investigation.

Revenue Streams

Tianlong-2 Launch Services

Small-to-medium kerolox orbital launches for Chinese commercial and research satellite customers.

Tianlong-3 Reusable Launch Services

Planned high-cadence, low-cost reusable launches sized for China's satellite-internet mega-constellations, pending return-to-flight after the 2026 maiden failure.

Liquid Rocket Engines

Development and production of the Tianhuo (TH) series of kerolox engines, including the TH-11 and the 100 tonne-force-class TH-12 powering Tianlong-3.

Key Metrics

Est. Annual Revenue

Not publicly disclosed (development-stage commercial launch provider)

Total Funding

~$764M

World First

First Chinese private liquid rocket to orbit (Tianlong-2, 2023)

Tianlong-3 Payload to LEO

~17,000 kg

Orbital Launches

Tianlong-2: 1/1 success; Tianlong-3: 0/1

Timeline

2026Tianlong-3 maiden flight fails

On April 3, 2026, Tianlong-3 lifts off from Jiuquan but an explosion in its engine bay about 33 seconds after liftoff ends the mission, China's third orbital launch failure of the year.

2025Tianlong-3 sea-platform static fire & $350M round

A ~30-second Tianlong-3 first-stage static fire succeeds on a sea platform in September 2025 after redesign, and an October 2025 Series D adds about $350M for Tianlong-3 and next-generation engines.

2024Tianlong-3 static-fire mishap

During a June 30, 2024 static fire at Gongyi, a Tianlong-3 first stage breaks free of its hold-downs, makes an unintended suborbital hop and crashes about 1.5 km away. No casualties; the company later implements 127 corrective measures.

2023First Chinese private liquid rocket to orbit

On April 2, 2023, Tianlong-2 reaches orbit on its maiden flight carrying the Jinta cubesat, making Space Pioneer the first startup to orbit a liquid-propellant rocket on its first attempt.

2019Founded

Kang Yonglai, formerly CTO of LandSpace, founds Space Pioneer (Beijing Tianbing Technology) to build low-cost reusable launch vehicles and liquid rocket engines.

Funding

Round	Date	Amount	Investors
Series A-C	2019-2023	~$416M (multiple rounds)	Zhejiang University Joint Innovation Fund, CICC Capital, and others
Reusable rocket round	2024-06	$207M (1.5B yuan)	Undisclosed (for Tianlong-3 development)
Series D	2025-10	~$350M	Undisclosed (Tianlong-3 and next-generation engines)