Isar launched a rocket into orbit from Andoya in Norway on Sept. 5, 2026.

The head of Germany's Isar Aerospace voiced hope Tuesday that the company could one day overtake Elon Musk's SpaceX to become the world's premier space launch company.

Daniel Metzler, who founded the company with two fellow students in 2018, pointed to a huge backlog of launch orders, helped by European military clients.

"SpaceX was founded in 2002. Back then I was playing with Pokemon cards," he said. "Looking at what could happen in the next 18 years, I wouldn't rule out us being further ahead than SpaceX."

Isar became in September the first privately financed European company to get a rocket into orbit.

Europe is betting that competition between Isar and other players such as Rocket Factory Augsburg will bring down the price of satellite launches.

This would help ensure affordable access to space for sectors ranging from telecommunications to defense, independent of entities such as SpaceX, the sector leader valued at $1.9…