German private rocket reaches orbit from Western Europe for first time

A German private rocket called Spectrum, built by Isar Aerospace, reached orbit from Western Europe for the first time on September 5. The two-stage rocket launched from the Andøya Space Centre in northern Norway at 10:12 pm local time. Seven minutes after launch, the rocket's upper stage entered an elliptical orbit around Earth, making Spectrum the first private rocket to achieve orbit from Western Europe.

Isar Aerospace's Spectrum chief engineer expressed pride in the achievement, stating that it's a historic milestone for Spectrum, Isar, and Europe. This historic mission marked Spectrum's second attempt to reach orbit, as the rocket first launched from Andøya in March 2025, but suffered a failure due to an unintended vent valve opening and loss of attitude control.

Isar Aerospace subsequently prepared for a second flight, named "Onward and Upward," which finally succeeded. The rocket carried five CubeSats and a scientific experiment, and completed a circularisation burn to deploy the payloads after reaching its orbit. With this successful flight, Spectrum sets a new record for launches from Western Europe, eclipsing Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, though the facility lies within Russia's European territory.