Mitsubishi Heavy Successfully Launches British Satellite

Tokyo, Dec. 23 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. <7011> successfully launched an H-2A rocket mounted with a British satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Thursday.

The H-2A Launch Vehicle No. 45, which carried major British satellite communications service operator Inmarsat's commercial communications satellite, lifted off from the space center at around 12:32 a.m. Thursday (3:32 p.m. Wednesday GMT).

The satellite separated from the rocket around 26 minutes later and entered the planned orbit.

Although Mitsubishi Heavy had initially scheduled the liftoff at around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the countdown was temporarily suspended after the company found a matter that had to be checked in the body of the rocket during preparation work.

In 2017, Mitsubishi Heavy received an order from Inmarsat to launch its satellite into space.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]