German launcher puts satellites into orbit from Europe for the first time

Isar Aerospace has become the first European commercial space company to successfully place satellites into orbit, after its Spectrum rocket launched from Norway’s Andøya Spaceport.

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Isar Aerospace has become Europe’s first commercial space company to successfully put satellites into orbit, on what was only its second flight.

The 28-meter rocket carried five scientific satellites from several universities and one scientific experiment. The “Onward and Upward” mission lifted off at 10:12 p.m. local time on Saturday, or 8:12 p.m. GMT, from the company’s launch complex at Andøya.

“This is the first time this kind of flight has been carried out from the European continent to Earth orbit. This is the beginning of a new era,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said as he congratulated the Munich-area company. Isar Aerospace chief executive and co-founder Daniel Metzler said the launch had opened access to space from continental Europe and given Europe sovereign access to space.

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Isar Aerospace has opened access to space from continental Europe.

The launch was only Isar Aerospace’s second flight. In August, the company signed a contract with the European Space Agency under the European Launcher Challenge, securing roughly €200 million in funding commitments. The program aims to speed development of the next generation of launch vehicles, expand testing and launch infrastructure, increase launch frequency and support future missions.

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Europe now has sovereign access to space.

Isar Aerospace also signed a launch-services agreement with Astroscale Japan to carry the ADRAS-J2 active space-debris removal mission aboard Spectrum.

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This is the first time this kind of flight has been carried out from the European continent to Earth orbit. This is the beginning of a new era.