Japan launches rocket launch after 2003 failure

Описание: (26 Feb 2005) SHOTLIST

Day shots
1. Wide launch pad, cameraman in foreground
2. Wide launch pad- zoom in to H-2A rocket
3. Shot from above of H-2A rocket on launch pad

Dusk shots
4. Various of H-2A rocket on launch pad
5. Various shots of engines firing and rocket taking off
6. Two wide shots of smoke in air following rocket launch

STORYLINE

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

The 53-metre-tall (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 centre on the remote southern island of Tanegashima.

The rocket carried a multipurpose weather and navigation satellite.

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

All H-2A launches had been put on hold following a humiliating failure minutes after lift-off from the main pad here in November 2003.

Controllers had to detonate that rocket and its payload of two spy satellites in midair after a booster failed to detach.

The setback was all the more frustrating because it came just one month after China successfully launched its first astronaut into orbit. Beijing has
since announced it is aiming for the moon.

Japan - which in 1972 became the fourth country to launch a satellite and which has long seen itself as Asia''s leading space-faring nation - has no
manned space programme of its own.

Aware of the Chinese challenge, a government panel last year recommended that Japan begin studying the possibility of sending astronauts into space.

In the meantime, officials have stressed that the H-2A, which was designed and built in Japan, has a relatively good - if not perfect - record.

The 2003 failure came after five-straight successes, giving it an 83 percent success rate. Europe''s Arianne 5 and China''s Long March 3 both have
about an 85 percent rate.

Even so, Japanese hopes that the H-2A would become an attractive competitor in the commercial launching business have yet to pan out because of the rocket''s high cost and infrequent lift-offs.

JAXA officials stress that because Japan''s space programme, which has a budget of about 260 billion yen (2.5 billion US dollar), is strictly non-military it can afford only one or two launches a year.

They say that is the main reason why Japan - despite being Asia''s richest and most technologically advanced nation - is falling behind China.

But the nature of Japan''s space programme is changing.

The perceived threat from communist neighbour North Korea, which launched a Taepodong 1 missile over Japan''s main island in 1998, has provided a strong
impetus for Tokyo to beef up its space capabilities.

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