14 DAY TRIAL // According to the Associated Press, Japan successfully launched a rocket carrying X-ray telescopes into Earth's orbit to examine black holes and galaxies on Sunday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.
JAXA staged a live Web telecast of the M-5 rocket being shot into a cloudy sky from Uchinoura, 620 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Three minutes after takeoff, the 21-foot-long satellite jettisoned its main rocket booster, which fell back to Earth. JAXA later said in a statement that the Astro-EII satellite had reached its target orbit about 348 miles above the planet's surface.
It was the first liftoff for Japan's space program since the February launch of the H-2A rocket.
Within days after liftoff, Astro-EII, drawing power from solar panels, is expected to test the operation of its five X-ray telescopes and its data streaming capabilities, JAXA said. Starting next month, it will relay data five times daily to a global network of antenna mission control uses, JAXA said.
JAXA scientists will comb through the data to study the structure and movement of black holes and the collapse of gigantic galaxies, or clusters of stars and gas held together by gravity. They hope the research will reveal clues about the evolution of the universe.
The H-2A's liftoff in February was the space agency's first success after an accident in November 2003, when a rocket carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned and was destroyed in mid-flight.
The M-5 rocket was originally set for launch earlier this year but was delayed because JAXA made a priority of the H-2A launch.
After the M-5's liftoff was rescheduled for Friday, it was further delayed two days by bad weather.