Japan's Small Experimental Rocket Fails to Launch Tiny Satellite

The first flight of a tiny experimental Japanese rocket, touted as the world's smallest booster designed to launch a satellite in orbit, failed Sunday (Jan. 15), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency officials said. The three-stage rocket, called SS-520-4, was the size of a telephone pole and launched from Japan's Uchinoura Space Center at 8:33 a.m. Japan Time (6:33 p.m. EST or 2333 GMT on Saturday, Jan. 14), but a communications failure forced JAXA flight controllers to abort the ignition of the r