Japan’s New Rocket Lifts Off

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An Epsilon rocket blasts off from the launching pad at the Uchinoura Space Center in Kimotsuki town, Kagoshima prefecture, in this photo taken by Kyodo, Sept. 14, 2013.
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An Epsilon rocket blasts off from the launching pad at the Uchinoura Space Center in Kimotsuki town, Kagoshima prefecture, in this photo taken by Kyodo, Sept. 14, 2013.

Japan has launched a new rocket that it hopes will be a less expensive and more efficient way of sending satellites into space.

The three-stage, solid fuel Epsilon lifted off successfully Saturday from a space center in southern Japan.

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The Epsilon was carrying the SPRINT A, the first space telescope designed for remote observation of other planets.

Japan hopes the rocket, launched with conventional laptop computers in a pared-down command center, will become competitive in the global space business.

The French news agency, AFP, reports only eight workers were assigned to the blastoff operation.

Lift-off had originally been scheduled for two weeks ago, but the attempt was suspended with just 19 seconds to go due to a computer glitch.

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