Japan rocket crash: Enormous fireball as rocket plummets to ground six seconds after take off

The Japanese rocket crashed and burned six seconds after take off
AFP/Getty Images
Hatty Collier30 June 2018

A rocket crashed and exploded in an enormous fireball just six seconds after it had taken off in Japan.

The 10-metre rocket, which was worth $2.7 million, sparked a fiery explosion after it crashed back down to the ground following an engine failure.

The MOMO-2 rocket was developed by Japanese start-up company Interstellar Technologies and is the brainchild of internet tycoon Takafumi Horie.

No injuries were reported in the explosion.

The MOMO-2 rocket, developed by Interstellar Technologies, crashes on to the launch pad just after takeoff in Taiki town, Hokkaido, Japan
EPA

The unmanned rocket was launched at about 5.30am on Saturday (8.30 UK time on Friday) from a test site in Taiki, southern Hokkaido.

The launch was supposed to send the rocket carrying observational equipment to an altitude of more than 100 kilometres. Horie, who once did a near two-year stint in jail for accounting fraud, wants to send Japan's first privately backed rocket into space,.

The MOMO-2 rocket crashed seconds after take off
EPA

The company said it was undeterred by the launch failure and would continue with its rocket development programme.

Interstellar Technologies’s first rocket launch was in July 2017. The rocket reached about six miles into the sky before it broke apart.

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