The Japanese Space Agency has cancelled the launch of their unnamed rocket on Tuesay morning after a fire broke out near the rocket launch pad at Tanegashima Island located in southwestern Japan. The launch of the rocket with HTV-8 cargo vessel called Kounotori8 was meant to deliver supplies to the International Space Station over the Earth. The fire reportedly broke out at 3:05 am in Japanese time just before the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was all set to launch the cargo vessel on the H-2B rocket. The operator is investigating the cause of the fire and checking for any damages to the rocket and the area surrounding it. 

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'World's biggest transport space ship'

Kounotori8 means a white stork in Japanese. The purpose of the launch was to supply over 5.3 tonnes of material including fresh food, water, batteries and devices for the experiment, to the astronauts at the ISS. The Kounotori8 was called the 'world's biggest transport space ship' by the Japan Space Agency JAXA on their website in a video.

A JAXA official addressed the local news agencies stating that there was no such deadline for the transportation of supplies to the ISS and they would schedule the next launch in cooperation with international counterparts. 

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India's Chandrayaan 2 also saw its initial launch cancelled

Recently in a similar incident, India's Chandrayaan 2 which had an initially planned launch on the July 15, was also scrubbed due to a technical snag.

On that day, Indian public had gathered at the Sriharikota at midnight to witness the launch of the rocket. It was just 56 minutes before the launch that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) decided to postpone the launch after facing technical issues. The 3850 kg spacecraft consisted of an orbiter, the lander Vikram, and the Pragyan rover.

The Moon mission of India was then launched on July 22nd and it arrived in the lunar orbit on the August 19. The Vikram lander was supposed to have a soft-landing at the south pole of the Moon on September 6, but at the last moment, the officials lost contact with the Lander. The world lauded ISRO's efforts and called the mission a success. The ISRO claimed that the Lander's location has been detected and it was still in one piece.
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