Japan launches satellite

ABC News is reporting that Japan has successfully launched a rocket carrying a weather and navigation satellite on Saturday.

The launch was the first for Japan since a launch failure in November 2003 that set back its space program.

The launch was scheduled for 5:09 p.m. Japan time, according to a pre-launch report on NHK.

According to a Reuters report on Yahoo, the launch took place at 6:25 p.m. local time. The rocket successfully deployed the satellite into orbit about 40 minutes after liftoff.