Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket reached orbit on its second test flight from Norway’s Andøya Spaceport on September 5, becoming the first rocket launched from continental Europe that was independently developed by a private company to complete satellite orbital insertion. The two-stage liquid-fuel vehicle deployed five small scientific satellites and one flight-technology experiment after completing liftoff, stage separation, second-stage ignition, fairing separation, circularization and payload separation. The milestone fulfilled Isar’s obligation under the European Space Agency’s European Launcher Challenge, under which five selected companies must demonstrate orbital capability by 2027. Spectrum’s first flight ended less than a minute after liftoff on March 30, 2025, after an inadvertently opened vent valve caused a loss of attitude control. Isar now says its commercial pipeline exceeds €10 billion ($11.6 billion), although it has not disclosed how much is covered by formal contracts. The company is prioritizing industrialization, with a 40,000-square-meter facility near Munich designed for annual production of up to 40 rockets, while developing a second launch site in Nova Scotia. Isar has secured a €197.8 million ESA contract, received more than €200 million in earlier ESA support and raised €270 million in a Series D round that valued it above €2 billion. The achievement gives Europe an independent commercial launch option, although larger payloads and higher orbits will still require ArianeGroup’s rockets.