What Happened
European Launch Company Achieves Milestone With Commercial Vehicle
German launch company Isar Aerospace has successfully launched its Spectrum rocket into low-Earth orbit, becoming the first fully commercial European launch vehicle to reach orbit. The two-stage rocket lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway, carrying five small CubeSats and a technology experiment. Isar Aerospace was established in 2018 and has raised roughly $1 billion in private financing. The company plans to increase launch vehicle production and fulfill its order pipeline, with a new factory near Munich planned to manufacture up to 40 launch vehicles per year. This development was first reported by Unknown Source.