ANDøYA, Norway — Germany’s Isar Aerospace said its Spectrum rocket reached space Saturday night from Andøya spaceport in Arctic Norway, deploying five satellites on what the company called Europe’s first privately developed rocket to reach space, Al Jazeera reported.
The 28-meter uncrewed rocket lifted off at 20:12 GMT, reached about 100 kilometers altitude in under four minutes, and completed spacecraft separation after satellite deployment, the company said. An earlier March 2022 test flight failed about 30 seconds after liftoff.
Europe has struggled to launch satellites independently after cutting ties with Russia’s Soyuz rockets, with most European satellites riding U.S. SpaceX vehicles. Isar said the United States launched 198 rockets last year versus eight for Europe. In August the company announced a roughly $230 million European Space Agency contract to accelerate launcher development under the European Launcher Challenge.
Sources: Al Jazeera.
