German launch startup Isar Aerospace put its Spectrum rocket into orbit on its second attempt, lifting off at 22:12 CEST on 5 September 2026 from Andoya Spaceport in Arctic Norway and deploying five CubeSats. The mission, named 'Onward and Upward', gave Western Europe its first successful orbital launch from its own soil.
Spectrum Delivers The Full Ascent It Failed On Debut
Isar said the 28-metre, two-stage Spectrum passed maximum aerodynamic pressure, cut off its nine first-stage Aquila engines, staged, ignited its vacuum-optimised upper-stage Aquila, crossed the 100-kilometre Karman line, released its fairing and completed a circularisation burn before separating the payloads. It was the complete sequence Spectrum had failed even to approach on its 30-second debut in March 2025, which ended when an unintended vent-valve opening cost the vehicle attitude control and triggered a flight-termination command over the Norwegian Sea.
Five CubeSats Ride A Qualifying Mission Backed By ESA Boost!
The manifest was picked through the first Microlauncher Competition run by Germany's DLR space agency, integrated into an Exolaunch EXOpod Nova deployer in Berlin and supported by ESA's Boost! programme. CyBEEsat came from TU Berlin, TriSat-S from the University of Maribor and SkyLabs, SpaceTeamSat1 from the TU Wien Space Team, FramSat-1 from Norway's NTNU, and Platform 6 from Bulgarian nanosatellite company EnduroSat. A sixth passenger, Dcubed's 'Let It Go' technology demonstrator, remained attached to the upper stage rather than separating. Isar said spacecraft release was successful and that it was working with customers to confirm the health of each satellite.
A Western Europe First With Careful Fine Print
Europe has been launching its own rockets since Ariane's first flight in 1979, but those missions leave from Kourou in French Guiana. Britain's Black Arrow put Prospero in orbit in 1971 from Woomera, Australia; Virgin Orbit's 2023 Cornwall attempt failed. Russian launches from Plesetsk complicate any 'first European launch' claim. Spectrum is the first orbital-class vehicle to reach orbit from Western European territory, and Andøya, an island off Norway's coast, now sits on the very short list of active orbital ranges outside Russia. That milestone reinforces the ESA European Launcher Challenge contracts awarded to Isar, RFA and PLD Space, which required qualifying orbital flights by 2027.
From One Success To A Launch Business
Spectrum can carry up to 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit or 700 kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit, and is not reusable, so its economics depend on cadence and manufacturing efficiency. Isar says vehicles three through seven are already in production at its 40,000-square-metre factory near Munich, which is sized to eventually turn out as many as 40 rockets a year. The company is also standing up a second launch complex through its 10-year Nova Scotia deal with Maritime Launch Services and holds commercial payload contracts including Planet's Pelican satellites. The Norwegian Space Agency has also contracted Spectrum to launch two Arctic Ocean surveillance satellites by 2028.
Reporting based on coverage from Space Daily, Isar Aerospace, Space.com and Al Jazeera.