Does it mean that?

Europe has had a space agency for a while now. So this story isn't "Europeans finally started to launch for space" but a private European company chose to launch from a continental location.

It's funny how we can't be celebrate a European achievement without trying to interpret it into relationship to the US.

They started developing this rocket in the late 2010s, way before the current US craziness (or the current level of craziness anyway). Independent access to space is always desirable for countries that can muster the resources, but this is just one of many companies that appeared back then as a response to SpaceX's initial success.

Coupled or uncoupled, an equal relationship between the US and the EU is much healthier. Europe should have an economy, military and industrial capacity similar to the US.

The EU already had quite a bit of non-EU spaceflight capability, both in terms of rockets and launch sites.

I think having more distribution in launch locations and more provider options will ultimately be a net positive in the long run.

I think being a competitor in a market doesn't mean you're 'decoupling' from it, rather you're on equal footing.

Are we forgetting about Ariane?

If they haven’t gotten the message yet, they never will congratulations, plan on doing more because you’re gonna have to.

I think we are stronger together. European technology has been critical to many important American space missions, and that should continue to be the case.

An ecosystem where we develop things independently is one where everyone loses.

Multiple European nations gaining their own independent launch capabilities will merely result in the sinking of ESA and ArianeSpace. Look forward to lots of infighting in the near future.

The french always had Ariane??

It is indeed a huge success but it also underlines how far ahead the rest of the world is.

Why is this a sign of decoupling? Is any EU technological development decoupling?

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