Dubai – Al Arabiya.net
Posted on: August 28, 2023: 05:08 AM GST Last updated: August 28, 2023: 06:41 AM GST
Japan’s space agency has suspended Monday’s scheduled launch of an H-2A rocket into space, according to the launch operator, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The rocket was to carry a vehicle to land on the moon.
The launch services unit of the company said in a post on the social networking site X (formerly known as Twitter) that the launch operation was canceled 24 minutes before the scheduled date because the wind conditions in the upper atmosphere were not favorable.
The rocket was scheduled to launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 9:26 a.m. local time (0026 GMT) Monday.
While the agency announced in a live broadcast on YouTube that the company responsible for the launch will provide more details at a later time.
The rocket carries the “SmartLander” spacecraft for lunar exploration and an X-ray imaging satellite.
If the vehicle had been able to safely ascend to the surface of the moon, Japan would have become the fifth country to land on the moon after Russia, the United States, China and India.
India has just joined the group with the historic landing of its Chandrayaan-3 rover on August 23.
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2023-08-28 01:08:00