The first orbital rocket launched from continental Europe crashed seconds after blast-off Sunday, in a closely watched test for the continent's bid to build a new space economy. Spectrum's blast-off was the first of an orbital launch vehicle from the European continent,

A test rocket intended to kickstart satellite launches from Europe fell to the ground and exploded less than a minute after takeoff from Norway on Sunday, in what the German startup Isar Aerospace had described as an initial test.