Isar Aerospace launches Spectrum, fails early in first stage flight

Isar Aerospace, based near Munich, Germany, made the first-ever launch attempt of its Spectrum two-stage rocket on Sunday, March 30, at 10:30 UTC from the Orbital Launch Pad at the Andøya Space Center in Norway. An earlier attempt on Monday, March 24 was scrubbed due to high winds, and a second attempt on Saturday, March 29 was also scrubbed due to weather restrictions. Following pad clear, Spectrum headed into the pitch-over before losing control around 18 seconds into flight, before falling back to the ground. Isar Aerospace has confirmed that the vehicle was terminated 30 seconds into flight and that it fell into the sea. It also noted that the launch pad infrastructure appears to remain intact. Pre-Launch Overview: The mission, named “Going Full Spectrum,” is the first orbital launch attempt from Norway and continental Europe, excluding the British Isles and Russia. One other orbital attempt was made from Cornwall in England involving Virgin Orbit’s Launcher One. That rocket f ... Read full article.