WATCH: Uncrewed German Spectrum Rocket Fails, Falls Back to the Ground and Explodes 40 Seconds After Launch

For decades, the German people have been renowned for their engineering prowess, associated with precision, innovation, and durability.

You’d hear phrases like ‘German engineering is not just a skill; it’s a philosophy of perfection’, or ‘Germany, engineering is not a job—it’s an art form’.

In the area of rocket design and construction it was not different, with genius pioneer Werner Von Braun taken from Nazi Germany to erect the first NASA projects.

But that was then, and this is now, with de-industrializing Teutons devolving from their former glory.

Today, a German test rocket supposed to kick-start the European satellite launches failed, fell back to the ground and exploded 40 seconds after its launch from a Norwegian space port – come to think of it, in the perfect symbolic image of the country’s current situation.

The Telegraph reported:

“The uncrewed Spectrum rocket was described as the first attempt at an orbital flight to originate from Europe, where several nations – including Sweden and Britain – have said they want a share of a growing market for commercial space missions.

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.”

Drone and pad footage from Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum launch. You can see it avoided the pad when it came down. pic.twitter.com/NePozHqYad

— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) March 30, 2025

As for the company that developed the Spectrum rocket, Isar Aerospace, the failed flight was in fact a success, and ‘produced extensive data from which its team could learn’.

“’Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success’, Daniel Metzler, the chief executive, said in a statement. ‘We had a clean lift-off, 30 seconds of flight, and even got to validate our flight termination system’.

Spectrum, a two-stage orbital launch vehicle, is 28 meters long, powered by 10 engines developed in-house by Isar, and was specifically designed to put small and medium satellites into orbit.”

WILD FOOTAGE

German startup Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket failed on its debut launch today. pic.twitter.com/m6WDROkiU4

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 30, 2025

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