German rocket reaches space
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On Saturday, a German rocket known as Spectrum successfully reached orbit from Norway's Arctic Andoeya Spaceport, marking the first commercial flight to do so from continental Europe. This achievement, described as a breakthrough for the European launch industry, strengthens both Norwegian and European security in a turbulent period.
The rocket, designed for small and medium-sized payloads, carried five small satellites and an in-flight technological experiment. This was Isar, the German company behind the rocket, second launch, following a failed attempt 18 months prior. The event comes as global players such as SpaceX and ArianeGroup compete in the growing market for space missions.
Norway, Sweden, and Britain are among the nearest rivals to the Norwegian launch site. Isar recently secured about 200 million euros from the European Space Agency to develop new rockets and expand its infrastructure, including plans for a second launch site in Canada.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
