WORLD : Japan Delays Lunar Blastoff
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UCHINOURA, Japan — Only 18 seconds before liftoff, space officials today postponed a rocket launch that would have made Japan the third country to send a spacecraft around the moon.
Officials said the flight was canceled after a problem arose in the hydraulic control system used to move the nozzle of a booster rocket.
“I don’t think it is a serious problem,” mission chief Hiroki Matsuo said. “If things go well, there is still a chance of a launch tomorrow.”
The mission received little advance publicity in Japan, and today’s countdown was not shown live on television.
Dozens of reporters had gathered on a dark hillside several miles from the oceanside launch site to watch the liftoff.
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