TOKYO (AP) — Japan's space agency on Tuesday postponed the launch of a second test flight of its new flagship rocket H3 series planned for this week because of bad weather forecast at the launch site. The fiasco triggered disappointment and uncertainty about Japan's space exploration plans, concerns that were compounded after a spacecraft designed by a Japanese company crashed during a lunar landing attempt in April. The launch of the H3 rocket had already been held up more than two years due to an engine development delay. Mitsubishi's H3 project manager Mayuki Niitsu said there is a growing demand for rockets that can stably launch satellite constellations. “We hope to achieve success of the second H3 rocket and show our capability to our potential customers,” he said and added that H3 could be competitive with major global players, such as SpaceX.

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Persons: Masashi Okada, Japan's, “, ” Okada, Okada, Mayuki Niitsu, ” Organizations: TOKYO, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Canon Electronics, Seiren, SpaceX Locations: Japan, Japanese, United States, China