Rocket Falls in Icy Wasteland, Explodes in Epic Fireball

We've never seen a rocket explode with this kind of view before. Arctic Blast A rocket by German startup Isar Aerospace tore into the sky over Norway's Arctic Andoeya Spaceport, a European launch base for small satellites, over the weekend — only to plummet back down to the ground, exploding in a dramatic fireball. Fortunately, while the spaceport's "crisis management" was triggered, nobody was hurt. As Reuters reports, the rocket, dubbed Spectrum, was meant to kick off Europe's efforts to keep up with steep international competition when it comes to launching satellites into orbit. The company says it's the first rocket designed for orbital flight that has ever been launched from continental Europe, excluding Russia. Elon Musk's SpaceX, in particular, has made major headwinds in establishing a massive constellation of Starlink satellites. "Europe urgently needs to ensure its sovereignty in space," said Marie-Christine von Hahn, managing director of Germany's BDLI aerospace indus ... Read full article.