Japan space agency rocket carrying eight satellites fails

The Epsilon-6 rocket blasts off from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kimotsuki town, Kagoshima prefecture

Japan’s space agency said a rocket carrying eight satellites failed just after liftoff yesterday and had to be aborted by a self-destruction command, in the country’s first failed rocket launch in nearly 20 years.

The Epsilon-6 rocket was not in the right position to orbit around the Earth and its flight had to be aborted less than seven minutes after takeoff from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa told an online news conference.

“We deeply apologize for our failure to live up to the expectations” of local officials and those who were involved in the development of the satellites, Yamakawa said, pledging to assist in the investigation into the cause of the failure.

JAXA officials said the agency sent a self-destruction signal after deciding the rocket was not able to fly safely and enter a planned orbit. JAXA said the rocket and payloads were believed to have fallen into the sea east of the Philippines.

The cause of the failure was still being investigated, the agency said.

The Epsilon rocket was carrying eight payloads, including two developed by a private company based in Fukuoka, another southern prefecture. It was the first time an Epsilon rocket carried commercially developed payloads. MDT/AP