Abstract: Taking spring maize variety Danyu39 as test object, an  experiment was conducted in a largescale agricultural water controlling experimental field to study the impacts of drought stress at three key growth stages, i.e., 3leaf-jointing, jointingsilking, and silkingmilk ripe, on the growth and development and grain yield of spring maize in Northeast China. Two treatments were installed, including moderate drought stress (MS) and rewatering to suitable water (CK). Compared with CK, the MS at 3-leaf-jointing stage postponed the whole growth period of Danyu39 by 13 d, and the plant height and leaf area at jointing stage were decreased by 29.8% and 41.2%, respectively. After re-watering, the plant height and grain yield recovered obviously, and the differences in ear characteristics and final yield were insignificant. The MS at jointingsilking stage shortened the whole growth period by 7 d, the plant height and leaf area at silking stage were decreased by 18.6% and 14.1%, respectively, the ear length, grain number per ear, ear dry mass, and grain mass per ear decreased by 6.9%, 19.1%, 28.1%, and 29.4%, respectively, and the blank stem rate increased by 13.3%. When the maize suffered from moderate drought stress at silking-milk ripe stage, the whole growth period was shortened by 15 d, the plant height and leaf area at milk ripe stage were decreased by 2.3% and 37.3%, respectively, the ear length, grain number per ear, ear dry mass, and grain mass per ear decreased by 9.2%, 24.1%, 30.8%, and 27.9%, respectively, and the blank stem rate increased by 24.5%. After re-watering at the latter two stages, the recovery of plant height was little, and the grain yield decreased significantly.