Japanese company Space One fails for a second time at launch

The Japanese company Space One failed for a second time Wednesday to launch its Kairos rocket when it went out of control about two minutes into the flight.

The rocket’s first-stage nozzle malfunctioned about 80 seconds into the flight at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday local time from Space Port Kii in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, and automatically self-destructed during the launch that had already been postponed twice by weather conditions.

Space One is attempting to be the first private company in Japan to put satellites into orbit and the company’s president, Masakzu Toyoda, made a press conference apology to the company’s clients for “being unable to” reach that goal.

“We apologize to our customers and those involved in the launch for the failure to achieve the mission to the end, and we are very sorry that we did not meet the expectations of everyone who supported us,” Space One said in a statement.

The rocket’s payload was five satellites owned by the Taiwan Space Agency and two Japanese companies — Space Cubics LLC and Terra Space Inc.

The first failed attempt happened in March.

That rocket exploded just after launch due to an incorrect calculation of rocket propulsion,

Space One, created in 2018 by Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace and others, operates Space Port Kii.

The company aims to lower commercial space delivery costs by providing regular rocket launches and achieving the quickest lead times in the world.