Japan Successfully Launches Final H-2A Rocket
Tanegashima, Kagoshima Pref., June 29 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. successfully launched the last H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima in the small hours of Sunday.
The 50th unit of the H-2A rocket lifted off at 1:33 a.m. and put the GOSAT-GW greenhouse gas and water cycle observation satellite, nicknamed Ibuki GW, into the planned orbit.
The two-stage, liquid-fuel rocket was developed by the predecessor of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. Its first unit was launched in 2001.
The production and launch operations for the H-2A series were transferred to Mitsubishi Heavy from the 13th unit launched in 2007. The only launch failure occurred with the sixth unit in 2003.
(2025/06/29-09:40)
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