Japan space agency rocket Epsilon-6 launch fails

The Japanese space agency said its rocket malfunctioned just after its liftoff on Wednesday, a first failure for the country's rocket launch in nearly 20 years. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Epsilon-6 rocket experienced an unidentified "abnormality" and its flight had to be aborted by a self-destruction command less than seven minutes after takeoff from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima.

The Epsilon rocket was carrying eight payloads, including two developed by a private company based in another southern prefecture of Fukuoka. It was the first time an Epsilon rocket carried commercially-developed payloads. The launch, originally scheduled for last Friday, had been delayed due to a location of a positioning satellite in space.