A major fire broke out on Tuesday at a site of the Japanese space agency while it was testing a solid-fuel Epsilon S rocket, according to images from public television channel NHK.
No injuries were reported following the incident in the remote Kagoshima prefecture in southern Japan.
Fireballs and white smoke rose around 8:30 a.m. local time (11:30 p.m. GMT) from the Tanegashima space center, according to these images.
“There was an anomaly during today’s burn test. We are trying to establish what happened,” the Japan Space Agency (Jaxa) said in a statement.
Fire under the eyes of the media
According to NHK, the fire occurred during a test burn, attended by media stationed about 600 meters away.
About 30 seconds into the test, a loud explosion was heard, and what appeared to be a burning object flew toward the sea, NHK reported.
Japan’s Sankei newspaper reported that orange flames burst from the rocket’s engine placed on a horizontal platform before the explosion.
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