Norway has become the 15th nation to launch a rocket into space. Last night, on 5 September 2026, the first successful lift-off took place from Andøya Spaceport, an island within the Arctic Circle high up north in Norway.
The launch of the Spectrum 2 rocket — by Isar Aerospace — also marks the first successful satellite launch from Western Europe. Ketil Olsen, CEO of Andøya Space, is happy. “A launch vehicle leaving the ground is the visible moment. Behind it lies years of preparation, advanced technology, infrastructure, safety operations, and people with highly specialized expertise,” he says in a press release.
“This is an historical day!” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre wrote on Facebook after the launch. “It is a break-through for Norway as a space nation. It is also the result of close cooperation with Germany.”
The payload
The successful launch of the Spectrum 2 follows after a failed attempt and three cancelled launches. The Spectrum 2 is a three stage rocket — the first part came down off the coast of Greenland, the second near Antarctica. Party of the payload that the rocket was to get into orbit was the Norwegian FramSat-1 satellite of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The other world nations with space launch capacity are Kazakhstan (run by Russia), the United States, China, India, Japan, Iran, South Korea, North Korea, Isreal, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France (French Guiana) and Italy. | © 2026 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured drone image: Andøya Spaceport’s first launch on 5 September 2026 (Photo: Andøya Space)