Isar's Spectrum reaches orbit on its second flight, deploying all customer payloads

Isar Aerospace/Spectrum

Isar's Spectrum rocket reached orbit on its second flight, 'Onward and Upward', lifting off from Andøya, Norway at 10:12 pm CEST on 5 September 2026 and deploying its payloads. That makes Isar the first European commercial company to put satellites into orbit.

• The rocket passed max-Q, separated its stages and did a circularization burn to settle into orbit before releasing the satellites.
• The payloads were small satellites from universities and startups, picked in the German Space Agency's microlauncher competition.
• Spectrum's first flight, in March 2025, ended about 30 seconds after liftoff.
• Vehicles 3 to 7 are in production, and a 40,000 m² factory sized for up to 40 rockets a year is nearly finished.