Spectrum: German Company Launches Europe's Ist Privately-developed Rocket To Orbit

German startup Isar Aerospace successfully launched its Spectrum rocket into orbit from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway at 2012 UTC on Saturday (Sept. 5), marking the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit from continental Europe.

After liftoff, the rockety's first stage burned for two-and-a-half minutes, separated, and the second stage ignited to reach orbital velocity. After a circularization burn, the payload fairing was discarded, and the payloads were deployed.

The "Onward and Upward" mision deployed five small satellites (CubeSats) and a non-separating technology experiment, completing the full flight sequence that failed during the small launch rocket’s inaugural launch 17 months earlier. Payloads included CyBEEsat, TriSat-S, Platform 6, FramSat-1, SpaceTeamSat1 and “Let It Go.”

"This is right now making history — making history for Spectrum, making history for Isar, making history for Europe,” Nikolaos Perakis, Spectrum chief engineer at Isar, said during Saturday's launch webcast. "I'm incredibly proud of this massive achievement."

The first test flight in March 2025, from Andøya, "Going Full Spectrum," lasted only about 30 seconds before crashing into the Norwegian Sea. An investigation revealed that a pressure relief valve malfunctioned, causing a loss of attitude control during the roll maneuver.

"A comprehensive investigation was completed within two months of the launch," Isar wrote in a September 2025 update. "The findings identified an unintended opening of the vent valve and a loss of attitude control at the start of the roll maneuver as the initiating events that led to the in-flight failure."

The return-to-flight mission faced multiple scrubs in 2026 due to weather, technical issues, and a boat straying into the launch range. Bad weather and an intruding boat scuttled multiple attempts in March, and an April 9 try was scrubbed due to a leak in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel.

Isar next tried to fly on June 15 but stood down after "detecting off-nominal behavior in the vehicle's fluid systems," according to a company update that day on X. But the company got that issue under control, rolling Spectrum back to the pad for today's launch.

"We had some delays, obviously," Petrakis said during the webcast. "We had some setbacks, but we came back stronger from them. And it validates this tremendous amount of engineering across all the teams, and that's what brings us into orbit."

So Saturday was a very big day for Isar, which is thinking big with Spectrum. “Flight 2 is a big, big milestone, big success," Petrakis said. "But this is just the beginning. So I'm really looking forward to the next steps."

Saturday's achievement positions Isar Aerospace as the first European commercial space company to deliver satellites into orbit from European soil, challenging the dominance of providers like Rocket Lab and SpaceX and complementing existing European heavy-lift systems like Ariane 6. The company has secured a $232 million (€200 million) contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) under the European Launcher Challenge and aims to manufacture 30+ rockets annually at its facility near Munich.

Spectrum is 28 meters tall with a 2-meter diameter; and utilizes automated-wound carbon fiber composite for primary structure to reduce mass and improve manufacturing throughput. The rocket's first stage is powered by nine Aquila sea-level engines and one vacuum-optimized Aquila engine powers the second stage. The small launch vehicle uses liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid propane, a choice made for density and ease of sourcing compared to methane or kerosene.