Television images showed fireballs and plumes of smoke rising from the Tanegashima Space Center at around 8:30 a.m. local time.
According to the authority Radio According to Japanese television, the fire broke out during a test that took place in the presence of media representatives whose representatives were standing about 600 meters from the test site.
It was only about half a minute after the start of the ignition test that a strong explosion was heard, and what appeared to be a burning object flew towards the sea, according to what NHK reported.
For its part, the Sankei newspaper reported that an orange flame erupted from an engine The missile Which before the explosion was placed on a horizontal platform.
