Rocket launch brings Japan back into space

updated 9:38 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2005

TANEGASHIMA, Japan - Fifteen months after Japan’s last liftoff ended in a spectacular fireball, an orange and white H-2A rocket blasted off Saturday on a mission officials hope will revive this country’s once proud space program — now languishing in China’s shadow.

The 174-foot-tall rocket, with the word “Nippon,” or Japan, emblazoned on its side, lifted off into a cloudy sky just before sunset from the sprawling space center on this remote southern island. The rocket carried a multipurpose weather and navigation satellite.

About 40 minutes later, mission control announced the rocket had successfully delivered its payload into orbit.

Japan’s space agency, JAXA, was counting on a successful launch to help revive the reputation of the H-2A, which serves as the centerpiece of this country’s space program, and to demonstrate that Japan remains a viable contender in an increasingly heated Asian space race with China.

Last month, Beijing announced it will send two astronauts into orbit for up to five days in September or October. China, which is believed to have earmarked $20 billion for its manned program, hopes to put an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010.

Though loathe to admit it, Japanese space agency officials have been shaken by China’s advances.

“We aren’t especially conscious of China,” Mamoru Endo, a senior official with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, said, noting that the two nations’ space programs have very different objectives.

But he acknowledged a government panel recommended last year that Japan, which has focused on unmanned, scientific probes, consider a manned space program over the next decade. He also said that, although the space agency’s budget has been generally declining, there is growing political support for increasing it in the near future.

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