Summary

This weekend, a rocket lifted off from a launch pad on a remote Norwegian island and did something no private European space company had ever done before: it reached orbit. Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum vehicle powered through max dynamic pressure, separated its first stage, ignited its second stage, and crossed the Kármán line before completing the burns needed to place its payloads into the right orbit. It was, in the words of Isar’s CEO Daniel Metzler, the moment Europe had its own space capabilities.

AI summaries can be wrong sometimes—always verify important details using the source article.