European startup’s space capsule ‘lost’ after reentry

Communication with a privately funded European space capsule was lost Tuesday shortly after the spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere. 

The capsule launched on a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday. The Exploration Company, which built the spacecraft, described the mission as a “partial success” and a “partial failure.”

“The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in orbit, stabilised itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after blackout,” the Munich-based startup said in a LinkedIn post today. 

“But it encountered an issue afterwards, based on our current best knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splash down,” it added.

This communication loss suggests a possible malfunction or anomaly, though the company says it is still investigating the root cause. It’s also not yet clear whether the spacecraft was damaged or lost entirely. The Exploration Company did not immediately ...