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Japan delays rocket launch due to technical trouble
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-23 09:03
Japan's space agency had to postpone the launch of its latest rocket Monday
due to last-minute technical problems, officials said. The launch was
rescheduled for Tuesday.
The launch of the Japanese-developed H-2A rocket, carrying a 4-ton
observation satellite, was rescheduled because of trouble with sensing
equipment, Japan's space agency JAXA said in a statement. The launch, from the
remote island of Tanegashima in southern Japan, was postponed twice already
because of a separate glitch and bad weather.
The Advanced Land Observation Satellite, nicknamed Daichi, is carrying three
earth sensors that can obtain terrain data for maps and make all-weather
observations of the Asia-Pacific region.
The H-2A rocket, the backbone of the Japanese space program, was last
launched successfully in February 2005. In November 2003, an H-2A rocket
carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned and was destroyed in mid-flight.
The launch is to be the eighth for an H-2A, a two-stage launch vehicle.
The rocket had five successful flights in a row after its first in August
2001.
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