The first orbital rocket launched from mainland Europe crashed back to the ground after just a few seconds of flight on Sunday at Norway’s Andøya Space Base in the Arctic.
Shortly after takeoff, the Spectrum rocket, a two-stage vehicle developed by German startup Isar Aerospace, began to wobble, flipped over, and fell to the ground, creating a loud explosion, as seen in live footage on YouTube.
An orbital rocket is capable of placing a payload, such as a satellite, into or beyond Earth’s orbit.
Prior to the launch, which had been postponed several times due to weather conditions, Isar Aerospace had stated that it had little hope of reaching Earth’s orbit on its first attempt.
“Every second of flight is valuable as it allows us to gather data and gain experience,” explained Daniel Metzler, co-founder and CEO of the German startup.
“Thirty seconds of flight would already be a real success,” he emphasised in an email to AFP.
Standing 28 metres tall with a diameter of two metres, Spectrum has a payload capacity of one tonne. On Sunday, it flew empty for its inaugural flight.
Earlier this year, the first attempt at an orbital flight from Europe took place in the UK, conducted by billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit.
Unlike Isar Aerospace, Virgin Orbit used a Boeing 747 rather than a launch pad to lift a rocket into altitude.
That attempt also ended in failure, and the company subsequently shut down.
