Space Transportation
Japan’s space technology has made great advances since the development of its first rocket, a 23-centimetre long pencil rocket by “the father of Japanese rocketry”, aeronautical engineer Dr Itokawa Hideo. Launch vehicles (rockets) are a vital part of the space transportation system, carrying satellites and spacecraft, with astronauts or cargo, from Earth to space. JAXA’s current primary launch vehicles are H-IIA, a large scale, reliable, mainstay rocket that supports the missions of satellites and space probes; H-IIB, a large transportation system that carries supplies to the International Space Station; H3, JAXA’s next-generation, heavy-lift flagship rocket launching for the first time in Japanese fiscal year 2021; and Epsilon, a solid-fuel rocket designed to launch satellites into orbit. JAXA continues its work on enhancing the performance, reliability and efficiency of its launch vehicles, offering a dependable delivery of supplies to space.