Spain’s first private rocket lifts off

MADRID: A Spanish company launched the country’s first private rocket on Saturday in a step towards bringing Spain into the exclusive club of space-faring nations.

The launch of the small MIURA1 rocket took place at 02:19am from a military base in the southern region of Andalusia, according to the company, PLD Space.

The company hailed the launch as “successful” and said it had achieved all its “technical objectives”, with the rocket rising 46 kilometres above the Gulf of Cadiz.

After five minutes in flight, it landed in the Atlantic Ocean, where PLD Space said it would send a team to recover it. The launch was hailed as a “milestone” by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in a posting on social media.

“The launch of Miura 1, the first rocket built 100pc with Spanish technology, has been successful, a milestone that positions Spanish research, development and innovation at the forefront of space transport,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, congratulating PLD Space.

The launch of the 12-metre (39-foot) rocket was first suspended in May because of strong wind, and then a second time in June because some of its umbilical cables — which provide power and fuel to the rocket — did not release in time.