German company becomes first in Europe to launch fully commercial orbital rocket

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• Ars Technica
  German company becomes first in Europe to launch fully commercial orbital rocket

  Isar Aerospace, founded in 2018 by three students at a German university, successfully launched a privately-developed rocket into low-Earth orbit Saturday from a Norwegian spaceport inside the Arctic Circle. The two-stage rocket, named Spectrum, became the first fully commercial launch vehicle in Europe to reach orbit. With Saturday's success, Isar is the clear leader among a pack of several European launch startups vying to inject some competition into Europe's stagnant launch market. Isar's 92-foot-tall (28-meter) Spectrum rocket lifted off at 4:12 pm EST (20:12 UTC) Saturday from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway, where it was 10:12 pm local time as the final bluish hues of daylight faded from the late summer sky. Seven minutes later, the rocket was in orbit. Read full article Comments ]]>

  Sun, 06 Sep 2026 11:55:26 GMT

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1. 2026-09-06 11:55Ars Technica — German company becomes first in Europe to launch fully commercial orbital rocket