There, from a rocky arctic island surrounded by fjords, a rocket rose into orbit.
Although, to me, the best moment was when an earlier launch had to be cancelled because there was a fishing boat downrange. The halibut and haddock wait for no man!
The next space powers may be Norway and Scotland.
Propane engines? I had no idea.
The Swedish Esrange probe rocket launch site is only just across the border from Andöya, and there are hopes to attract customers for full satellite launches.
(Downside: Esrange in on alpine tundra, with no nice mountains and fjords on top of it)
Until now, all-Swedish satellites have to be launched from other nations.
The owners of the rocket are Isar Aerospace, of Munich, Bavaria, Germany (non est vita extra bavariam et si est vita non est ita).
So this is the first successful German launch into Earth orbit.
Restricted to polar orbits, basically — launch site is at 69° N.
Equatorial orbits would be too energetically expensive from there.
Despite numerous launches, the Scots still haven’t managed to toss a caber into orbit.
Wikipedia – Space industry of Scotland
Astronorse.
@ 4 Morales
Aye. Intuitively, it would be easier to achieve polar orbit from high latitudes than traditional equatorial ones.