NEW: German rocket explodes just 40 seconds after takeoff from a Norwegian spaceport. German startup Isar Aerospace is seeking to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX so he can't dominate the skies. "Europe urgently needs to ensure its sovereignty in space. Elon Musk's Starlink is not without alternatives - nor... should it be," whined Germany's BDLI Managing Director Marie-Christine von Hahn. The rocket lasted just 40 seconds in the air. It was the first attempt at an orbital flight to come from Europe.show more

Same thing happened to my old Audi.

A good reminder not to try to launch your Audi into space.

Do you think Elon Musk actually gave a NAZI salute?

Germany can’t even defend their border. Maybe take care of that before trying to get to space.

Give you a renewed appreciation for American engineering & SpaceX. While other countries struggle to even launch rockets, in America we're also catching them.

Liberals think what Elon is doing with space X is casual shit and another countries literally can't even launch a rocket

Competition is great. But doing it to spite Elon is dumb motivation.

It is a funny narrative. But I hope they are able to improve. SpaceX can’t do everything humanity needs by themselves. And it’s not like SpaceX hasn’t blown up many rockets. It’s literally rocket science.

Elon is far ahead of everyone else. We are blessed to have him, and yet the left tries to destroy him. Clowns.

The issue isn't their failure—SpaceX test flights sometimes fail. The problem is that even if this succeeds, they'll still be decades behind SpaceX.

How long did it take SpaceX to get to where they are? 10 years or more? Germany,though you hate Elon, give him credit for what he has done. And appreciate his companies.