--- title: "Swedish Scientists Accidentally Shoot Norway With Rocket" description: "Sweden made a major whoopsie Monday when its experimental rocket accidentally landed in Norway, its neighbor." date: "2023-04-26" modified: "2023-04-26" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/swedish-rocket-norway" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "european space agency" - "norway" - "sweden" - "the digest" --- # Swedish Scientists Accidentally Shoot Norway With Rocket ![Sweden made a major whoopsie Monday when its experimental rocket accidentally landed in Norway, its neighbor.]() *This video grab taken from an AFP footage shows the launch of the "SubOrbital Express 3" rocket from the Esrange Space Center in Jukkasjarvi, northern Sweden, on November 23, 2022. - Founded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1966 to study the atmosphere and Northern Lights phenomenon, the Esrange space centre has invested heavily in its facilities in recent years to be able to send satellites into space. - TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Marc PREEL (Photo by Viken KANTARCI / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Marc PREEL (Photo by VIKEN KANTARCI/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: Getty/AFP\* ## Norwegian Nonsense Sweden had literally one job, and somehow they still blew it. As the [*BBC* reports](), Sweden made a major whoopsie Monday when its experimental rocket accidentally landed in Norway, its neighbor with whom it shares a border and a longstanding mutual peace. Launched Monday from the Esrange Space Center, the Swedish Space Center-owned research rocket ended up touching down in the mountains of Norway instead of back in Sweden where it was supposed to — and there appears to have been a breakdown in communication in a sort of he-said, she-said between the Scandinavian neighbors. The Norwegian foreign ministry told the *BBC* in a statement that the Swedes did not give any "formal notification" of the landing deviation or the rocket's recovery — but representatives from Esrange say that authorities on both sides of the border were contacted shortly after the incident. Although the uncrewed rocket, which was meant to test microgravity conditions and had been created with the help of the European Space Agency, did launch successfully and reached its target altitude of 250 kilometers, its landing trajectory was some 40km northwest of where it was supposed to end up, which put it squarely into Norway's far-northern territory of Malselv. ## Swedish Shenanigans Luckily, as the *BBC* and other outlets reported, the rocket landed in an uninhabited area and nobody, including the rocket and its payload, was hurt. Strangely enough, local authorities in Malselv did tell regional news services that *they* had been contacted about the rocket's erroneous landing, and that they were asked if a Swedish helicopter could be sent in to retrieve it. The rocket's payload has since been returned to Esrange, and space center representative Marko Kohberg told the *BBC* that the institution is taking the whole thing "seriously." While it's too soon to tell what really went wrong here, it sounds to us like this whole thing sounds is the result of a chain-of-communication issue — and it's pretty lucky that this happened between friendly nations and not, you know, in [Eastern Europe](). **More on rocket fails:** [*Experts Say SpaceX's Rocket Exploding Was a Huge Success*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()