Rocket Factory Augsburg has “issue” with rocket, forcing its removal from launchpad
Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe
During prelaunch tanking and pressurization tests of its RFA-1 rocket at the Saxavord spaceport on the Shetland Islands, the German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg discovered an “issue” that has forced the rocket’s destacking.
A spokesperson for RFA said: “After a successful week of our test campaign pressuring the flight vehicle for the first time in preparation for the hot fire test of RFA One, an issue was encountered with the vehicle. We have made the decision to de-stack the vehicle in order to investigate and take corrective action where required.
“We will provide further updates as soon as confirmed information is available.”
The spaceport authorities have approved a five week launch window beginning August 10, 2026. It is not clear at this point whether RFA-1 can be destacked, inspected, the issue fixed, and restacked in time to launch within that window.
The company first tried to launch this rocket two years ago, but was unable to do so when the rocket exploded during the final static fire test prior to launch. Since then it has undergone a management shake-up even as it struggled to get new launch approvals from both Saxavord and the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Rocket Factory has been in a race with another German rocket startup, Isar Aerospace, for achieving a first succesfull launch. Isar has tried and scrubbed several times since January the second launch (the first failed) of its Spectrum rocket. It now has a launch date of August 6, 2026 from Norway’s Andoya spaceport.
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