Japanese rocket launch postponed by poor weather

A threat of thick clouds kept a Japanese H-2A rocket from launching Thursday with a government-owned radar reconnaissance satellite. Japanese officials did not set a new target launch date, and said the liftoff would be rescheduled based on forecast weather conditions over the next few days. The H-2A rocket was supposed to take off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwest Japan at 0121 GMT Thursday (8:21 p.m. EST Wednesday), the opening of a 13-minute launch window. Liftoff was scheduled for 10:21 a.m. local time in Japan. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — owner of the Tanegashima launch pad and the commercial operator of the H-2A rocket — announced the launch’s postponement before engineers began loading cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen propellants into the two-stage rocket. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 29)