Sweden launches research rocket, accidentally hits Norway

A rocket that was launched early Monday morning (24 April) by Sweden Space Corp from the Esrange Space Center, located in northern Sweden, malfunctioned. It landed at a distance of 15 km (9.32miles) inside Norway.

In a statement, the agency stated that the rocket reached a height of 250 km and experiments were conducted in zero gravity.

Philip Ohlsson said that the plane landed at 1,000 metres above sea level, 10 kilometers away from the nearest settlement.

He said that when something goes wrong, there are procedures in place and both the Swedish and Norwegian government were notified, as well as other actors.

The agency stated that work is under way to retrieve the payload and that an investigation will be launched to find out the technical details of the unplanned flight route.

Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority did not respond to a request for comment immediately.