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.