Spain's PLD Space expects first orbital launch in Q1 2026 from French Guiana

FILE PHOTO: Spanish startup PLD Space's first suborbital reusable "Miura 1" rocket is being launched at El Arenosillo military facility in Huelva, Spain, October 7, 2023. PLD Space/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish rocket company PLD Space plans a first orbital launch from French Guiana in the first quarter of 2026, after it carried out the first fully private European rocket launch earlier this month, it said on Friday.

The startup launched a recoverable suborbital Miura-1 rocket from a site in southwestern Spain which was a "complete success," the company said, even though it could not recover the rocket after it dived into the sea. To recover the rocket from the sea was not a primary goal of the test, the company said.