History was made on 5 September, when Isar Aerospace successfully launched the Spectrum rocket to orbit from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. This marked the first orbital launch from continental Europe and the first time a privately funded European orbital rocket had successfully reached orbit.
In the Danish space community, the milestone was received with excitement. Space Denmark CEO, Søren Gram Riisgaard, wrote in the Space Denmark newsletter:
“This marks an important shift in Europe’s independent access to space, and it ties well into the Space Nordic initiative and our upcoming activities around European resilience.”
On LinkedIn, Jakob Clod Asmund, Major and military analyst at the Royal Danish Defence College (Forsvarsakademiet), specializing in space operations, called it a “historic day for European spaceflight.”
“Thus, a European company has demonstrated that it can send satellites into orbit with its own rocket from European territory. This is important for Europe’s strategic autonomy. Not only being able to build satellites, but also being able to get them up there ourselves. And more European companies are now joining the race. Including Danish ones.”
The Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) interviewed astrophysicist Christina Toldbo about the launch:
“It’s really important, because we’ve been a little bit behind. We still kind of are, but this is the first step towards joining the race for autonomy in space,” Toldbo told DR.
On LinkedIn, EuroSpaceport congratulated Isar Aerospace and the Andøya Space Center with the successful launch, and called it “a historic milestone in Europe’s future commercial and flexible launch capabilities.”
