Japan's New H3 Rocket Launch Ends in Failure

Tanegashima, Kagoshima Pref., March 7 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese space agency's attempt to launch the first unit of the country's new flagship H3 rocket ended in failure Tuesday as its second-stage engine failed to ignite.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, transmitted a signal to destroy the liquid-fueled H3 rocket 14 minutes after it was launched from the agency's Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima at 10:37 a.m. (1:37 a.m. GMT), because it concluded that there would be no possibility of achieving the mission.

The rocket fell into waters east of the Philippines along with a satellite it carried.

"I'm sorry for the consequences," Masashi Okada, the H3 rocket project manager of JAXA, told a news conference.

He said that JAXA will conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the cause, focusing on the electrical system that transmits ignition signals to the second-stage engine.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]