German launch company Isar Aerospace has successfully sent its Spectrum rocket into low-Earth orbit, becoming the first fully commercial launch vehicle in Europe to reach orbit. The two-stage rocket lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway on Saturday, marking a significant milestone for the company after eight years of development and placing it ahead of several other European startups pursuing commercial orbital launch capabilities.
The 92-foot-tall (28-meter) Spectrum rocket launched at 4:12 pm EST (20:12 UTC) from Andøya Spaceport, where the local time was 10:12 pm. The vehicle reached orbit approximately seven minutes after liftoff. The mission was Isar’s second Spectrum test flight and the first to carry customer payloads.
Isar Aerospace was established in 2018 by Daniel Metzler, Josef Fleischmann, and Markus Brandl, who were students at the Technical University of Munich. The three founders began working with rocket components in a campus workshop before creating the company. Over the following eight years, Isar raised roughly $1 billion through private financing rounds and expanded its workforce to nearly 500 employees.
Following the successful flight, Isar co-founder and CEO Daniel Metzler said, “Today, Isar Aerospace opened space from continental Europe.” He described commercial launch availability as a major constraint for the global space industry and said the company would now concentrate on increasing launch vehicle production, fulfilling its order pipeline and meeting demand.
Metzler also reflected on the company’s early challenges. He said that in 2018, when there was no established “New Space” industry on the European side of the Atlantic, people had questioned whether the business could succeed. He added that the company would continue proving its capabilities through its launches.
The company’s progress has included substantial private investment. Isar said it took eight years to reach orbit, while its financing during that period brought its total funding to roughly $1 billion. The company now has nearly 500 employees, making it the most heavily capitalized private launch company in Europe, according to the report.
The launch also comes as European space agencies and governments seek more competition in the continent’s launch market. Existing European providers Arianespace and Avio operate Ariane 6 and Vega-C respectively and have received billions of euros in government funding. Isar has instead developed its launch business through private financing, with plans to serve commercial and government customers.
Isar’s success also gives Germany a new position in the European launch sector. Spectrum is the first rocket built predominantly in Germany to reach orbit. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who visited Isar’s launch pad at Andøya Spaceport in March, congratulated the company following the flight and referred to it as the “beginning of a new era.”
Walther Pelzer, director general of the German Space Agency, DLR, said Isar’s successful flight “redefined the path to independent European access to space.” DLR awarded Isar $13 million (11 million euros) in 2021 to support development of Spectrum and arrange for the launch of the CubeSats carried during Saturday’s mission. Pelzer said the rocket had been developed for the global market rather than under a government contract.
Spectrum is designed to place up to a metric ton (2,200 pounds) of payload into low-Earth orbit. Its lift capacity is comparable to Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket, while it can carry heavier payloads than Rocket Lab’s Electron. The rocket remains below the performance level of Avio’s Vega-C.
The latest mission followed a failed Spectrum test flight in March 2025. During that attempt, the rocket spun out of control less than 20 seconds after liftoff and crashed near the launch pad. Engineers later determined that an unintentional opening of a vent valve and a loss of attitude control caused the failure. The earlier flight did not carry customer payloads.
For the second flight, Isar named the mission “Onward and Upward.” The rocket carried five small CubeSats and a non-separating technology experiment. Spectrum’s nine Aquila main engines use propane and liquid oxygen and generated more than 150,000 pounds (675 kilonewtons) of thrust. The first stage operated for two-and-a-half minutes before separating.
The second stage then used a single Aquila engine to accelerate to an orbital velocity of about 5 miles per second. It was expected to coast halfway around the world before reigniting to establish an orbit at an altitude of about 300 miles (500 kilometers). Isar officials did not immediately disclose the precise altitude and inclination of the final orbit, although at least one of the CubeSats deployed by the upper stage established contact with ground teams.
The flight had been delayed several times because of technical problems, poor weather and scheduling constraints at the Andøya launch range. Isar had initially attempted to launch the second Spectrum test flight in January. Metzler said the company could determine whether the system would work only by conducting the actual launch, noting that “you cannot simulate your way into orbit.”
Isar also received $230 million (197.8 million euros) from the European Space Agency last month through the European Launcher Challenge. The programme is intended to support commercial launch vehicle development in Europe, and Isar received the most valuable of the three contracts awarded through the challenge. One of its requirements is that participating companies complete an orbital launch no later than 2027. Isar has now met that requirement.
The company has five additional Spectrum rockets in production. A new 10-acre factory near Munich is planned to have the capacity to manufacture up to 40 launch vehicles per year. Isar is also developing a second launch site in Canada and could eventually operate launches from Kourou, French Guiana.
Isar plans to further increase Spectrum’s payload capability and aims to sell launches for between $10 million and $15 million. Metzler has also indicated that a “much bigger” launch vehicle is part of the company’s roadmap and that a “dedicated team” is working on reusable rocket technologies. He did not provide further details about those plans.
