The Spectrum rocket lifted off from the ground in Norwegian Andøya and was in the air for 25 seconds before it crashed and exploded in the water off the coast of northern Norway.
Our first test met all our expectations and achieved great success, says space company Isar Aerospace's CEO Daniel Metzler, calling the journey a success according to NRK.
We got almost 30 seconds of flight and could even confirm that our system for aborting a flight works, he says.
The 28-meter-high Spectrum rocket was launched by Isar Aerospace and was built to carry satellites and place them in orbit around the Earth.
The company's management had previously stated that it would be a success just to get the rocket airborne. Now it went several hundred meters up before turning.
Isar Aerospace has previously set the goal of launching Norwegian satellites by 2028 at the latest. Daniel Metzler says the company has already begun planning for the next test, which will take place "as soon as possible".
Now we can take the collected data to further development (of the next rocket), he says at a press conference a few hours after Sunday's crash.
The launch is the first of its kind from Europe, similar plans have previously been carried out from the European Space Agency ESA's space base in French Guiana in South America.
The plan was to launch the rocket already on Monday, but it has been postponed several times due to bad weather conditions.
