A German company will attempt to make spaceflight history today (Jan. 21), and you can watch the action live.
Isar Aerospace plans to launch its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway today, during a window that opens at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT; 9 p.m. local time in Norway). Success would be huge, and not just for Isar: To date, no rocket has ever reached orbit from European soil.
Today’s flight will be the second ever for the two-stage, 95-foot-tall (28 meters) Spectrum. It launched for the first time on March 30 of last year, also from Andøya.
That test flight didn’t last long: Spectrum suffered an anomaly less than a minute after liftoff and crashed into the ocean near the pad, generating a fireball that looked particularly dramatic and spectacular against the icy Arctic backdrop.
That outcome was far from surprising; orbital-class rockets rarely succeed on their debut flights. Isar is now ready to take the lessons learned from the first crack and apply them to attempt number two.
“This qualification flight is a deliberate step toward delivering sovereign access to space for Europe and allied nations. Just 10 months after proving that launch vehicles can be designed, built and launched from continental European soil, we’re ready to fly again,” Isar Aerospace CEO and Co‑founder Daniel Metzler said in a statement on Jan. 16.
“Europe’s immediate need for space access is clear,” he added. “Rapid iteration is essential to developing space capabilities precisely when they are required.”
Though this second launch, which Isar calls “Onward and Upward,” is a test flight, it will carry viable payloads (which Spectrum did not do on its debut). Five cubesats and one scientific experiment are going up on the rocket today.
“The insights we gain with this mission will strengthen Europe’s space infrastructure, a capability essential for defense readiness and economic resilience,” Alexandre Dalloneau, vice president of mission and launch operations at Isar Aerospace, said in the same statement.
