Isar Aerospace: Spectrum rocket reaches orbit – first European private launch successful

The Spectrum rocket from the German manufacturer Isar Aerospace has successfully launched its second test flight into space from the Norwegian Andøya spaceport north of the Arctic Circle. »We're in orbit! And we made European history," wrote the company in the online service X. For the first time, a privately developed rocket reached orbit from the European continent.

According to the Bavarian company, the launch was intended “both as a qualification mission and as the first flight with payload.” According to Isar Aerospace, the Spectrum is designed for small and medium-sized payloads and carried five small satellites and a technological experiment.

“Germany can do space travel,” the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space announced after the launch. It is a "milestone that impressively demonstrates our country's innovative strength and technical knowledge," the ministry wrote on

It was initially uncertain for a long time whether the unmanned Spectrum rocket would actually realize the first orbital flight from Europe: "Access to space remains one of the biggest obstacles for the space industry and the national security architecture," said Daniel Metzler, co-founder and CEO of Isar Aerospace.

Test flight had been postponed four times

The Spectrum rocket was originally scheduled to take off in January. But the first date was postponed due to a defective valve, and the second attempt in March was interrupted by a Norwegian fisherman who had not left the safety zone in the waters in front of the launch base with his boat in time. In April, launch preparations were canceled due to a leaking pressure vessel, and in June there was another problem. Isar Aerospace wants to launch more this year; the construction of the third Spectrum rocket is already well advanced.

The first Spectrum rocket launch attempt in March 2025 took just 30 seconds to crash. At that time, the rocket crashed to the ground and exploded shortly after takeoff from the same location in Norway. The company still considered the campaign a success because it provided large amounts of data for the development of the rocket.

Once it is ready for series production, the Spectrum will launch civil and military satellites into low-Earth orbits a few hundred kilometers above the ground. The plan is to produce 40 rockets per year. Both the federal government as well as the EU and other European countries have a strategic interest in the success of the company based in Ottobrunn near Munich with 400 employees.

The reason is Europe's current widespread inability to launch satellites into space using its own technology. For a long time, the vast majority of European satellites have been launched into space by Tesla founder Elon Musk's US company SpaceX. This is unpopular with European space companies, not least because clients in the USA have to disclose the technical specifications of their satellites.