Japan's new rocket blasts off in laptop-controlled launch
- September 14, 2013, 12:45 pm
- Science & Technology News
- 157 Views
TOKYO, Sept 14, (APP/AFP) - Japan's new
solid-fuel rocket successfully blasted off Saturday carrying a telescope for remote observation of planets in a launch coordinated from a laptop computer-based command centre.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Epsilon rocket from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima, southwestern Japan, at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT).
Spectators cheered in Kagoshima as well as at a public viewing site in Tokyo.
More than 900 people who gathered at the Tokyo event clapped and took
photos with cellphones as a huge screen showed the rocket lift off in a cloud of white smoke and orange flame.
The three-stage Epsilon -- 24 metres (79-feet) long and weighing 91 tonnes -- released the "SPRINT-A" telescope at an altitude of about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) as scheduled, JAXA said.
