Japan wants to restore the image of the H-2A missile
Final tests of the Japanese missile before launch
Japan has successfully launched a rocket into space, 15 months after your previous attempt ended in a giant fireball. The rocket, H-2A, which is 53 meters high, with the name Nippon painted on the side of the spacecraft, was successfully launched and placed a satellite in orbit.
Launches were suspended in November 2003, when controllers were forced to destroy a rocket carrying a spy satellite after one of the engines failed to disengage. Reporters report that the Japanese space program is now suffering from stiff competition from China.
The Japanese space agency JAXA seeks to restore the reputation of H-2A, the centerpiece of the program, and show that Japan remains an active supplier.
delays
The orange-and-white rocket climbed into the cloudy sky from a launch site on the remote southern island of Tangashima at 09:25 GMT on Saturday (11:25 Israel time). About 40 minutes later, he placed the multipurpose satellite - used for navigation and weather observations - into orbit. The launch was delayed for two days due to weather conditions and then delayed for another hour due to a fault in the data transmission system.
The last launch of this missile exploded in the air as mentioned in November 2003, when it carried a spy satellite designed to monitor North Korea, which was also destroyed. Japan's embarrassment was also heightened by the fact that China had put a man in space just weeks earlier, an operation Tokyo never intended to carry out.
