Germany’s Isar Aerospace successfully launches Spectrum rocket

Germany’s Isar Aerospace on Saturday became the first commercial space company from Europe to successfully deliver satellites into orbit, the company said.

The company’s 28-metre-long Spectrum rocket blasted off from the Norwegian spaceport at Andøya at 10:12 pm (2012 GMT). It crossed the so-called Kármán line, which marks the notional boundary of space, at an altitude of around 100 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, the company said.

The rocket was carrying a payload of five scientific satellites from several universities and a…