{"id":3657,"date":"2026-07-11T12:30:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=3657"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:30:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:30:34","slug":"japans-space-agency-conducts-first-test-flight-for-experimental-reusable-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=3657","title":{"rendered":"Japan&#8217;s space agency conducts first test flight for experimental reusable rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan&#8217;s experimental reusable rocket took off and safely landed in a first test flight Saturday as the country seeks to achieve the technology key to cut launch costs and compete in the global space market dominated by <a data-ylk=\"slk:SpaceX;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/spacex\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">SpaceX<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The RV-X rocket lifted off, hovered and moved horizontally before landing during its less than one-minute flight at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency&#8217;s Noshiro Testing Center in northeastern Japan, which was livestreamed by the NVS, a group of space fans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The rocket flew as planned, rising 11 meters (36 feet) and moving horizontally 16 meters (52 feet) while keeping its upright position before landing, Takashi Ito, JAXA&#8217;s reusable rocket project manager, said in an online briefing from the test center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Japan seeks to catch up with the technology Elon Musk&#8217;s SpaceX has been using for several years to cut launch costs of delivering payloads into space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Saturday&#8217;s flight is a step forward for Japan in achieving the technology needed to develop a lower cost successor to the country&#8217;s current mainstay, single-use <a data-ylk=\"slk:H3 series;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/japan-jaxa-h3-rocket-launch-9c64f2c59b9212d612902e74823b77b5\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">H3 series<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The flight comes one day after state media in <a data-ylk=\"slk:China;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/china-rocket-space-reuse-6d695fcad64a101dc3991c1bfa0e7357\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">China<\/a> reported the country achieved its first successful recovery of the first stage of a rocket after a liftoff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Japan&#8217;s H3 rocket is designed to be more cost effective than its predecessor <a data-ylk=\"slk:H-2A;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/japan-space-rocket-satellite-carbon-climate-f5a2cdc4e8e0611288c3e72b9e965c1b\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">H-2A<\/a> series, which had a near-perfect success record, but still needs further cost cuts to compete in the global space market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Japanese government says a stable, commercially competitive transport capability is key to the country&#8217;s space program and national security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been co-developing the RV-X, which is 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in diameter and 7.3 meters (23.9 feet) long and equipped with an engine with enhanced durability and four shock-absorption landing gear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The &#8220;hardworking&#8221; engine has so far withstood 165 combustion tests, Ito said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">JAXA, which is jointly developing reusable rockets with France and Germany, plans to send the RV-X rocket to a higher altitude of about 100 meters (218 feet) in future test flights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan&#8217;s experimental reusable rocket took off and safely landed in a first test flight Saturday as the country seeks to achieve the technology key to cut launch costs and compete in the global space market dominated by SpaceX. The RV-X rocket lifted off, hovered and moved horizontally before landing during its less&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/4fb17165e42239b70a316806e36e4a0d7283908cb51cca5c89ee1d68812c8122\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w1200;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fap.org%2F8be552dc33f6143e0bacb97e8e8a5904","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}