URGENT: H2A rocket lifts off, 1st launch by Japan since H3 failure

An H2A rocket carrying the Japanese space agency's lunar lander was launched Thursday at Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.

It was the first liftoff of a major domestic rocket from Tanegashima Island since the failed inaugural launch in March of Japan's next-generation H3 rocket.

© Kyodo News