Japanese rocket carrying eight satellites fails

The Epsilon-6 rocket blasts off from the Uchinoura Space Centre (Kyodo News via AP)

The launch of a Japanese rocket carrying eight satellites has been aborted by a self-destruct command, in the country’s first failed mission in nearly 20 years.

The Epsilon-6 rocket was not in the right position to orbit around the Earth and its flight had to be aborted less than seven minutes after take-off from the Uchinoura Space Centre in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima.