Japan’s new solid-fuel rocket blasted off on Saturday, after two delays in late August, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
The three-stage Epsilon rocket was launched at Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima at 2 pm (0500 GMT), 950 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.
An hour later, the rocket was put into orbit, JAXA said.
It was the first launch of a new type of rocket in Japan since 2001.
The Epsilon, is 24.4 metre high and weighs 91 tons, about half the size of Japan’s mainstay H-2A rocket, and has been lauded as a low-cost and technologically advanced alternative.
On August 27, the launch was postponed due to an abnormality in its position, after another cancellation five days earlier due to a computer glitch.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.