The German company that built the orbital rocket, Isar Aerospace, headquartered in Ottobrunn, southeast of Munich, still hailed the test flight a success. Liftoff took place at 12:30 p.m. from Norway's Andoya Spaceport after which Isar Aerospace said the launch vehicle "successfully cleared the launch pad.

German startup Isar Aerospace says this was an initial test as part of a project aimed at kickstarting satellite launches from Europe.

It was the largest German rocket since V-2, the Nazi-era rocket that has often been described as having launched the space age and was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. Isar Aerospace, the German company that developed the Spectrum rocket, insisted the failed flight had produced extensive data from which its team could learn.