Japan's Venus mission Akatsuki lifts off Kagoshima, southern Japan

Post date: May 21, 2010 10:31:15 AM

Japan has launched its first Venus probe satellite,

for a two-year mission.

An H-IIA rocket carrying the Venus climate orbiter called Akatsuki blasted

off from a Japanese space centre in Kagoshima, southern Japan.

Television pictures showed the vehicle lifting off and heading into space,

jettisoning its solid-fuel boosters on the way and finally

letting slip the much smaller probe.