Honda's experimental reusable rocket is seen during what the company said was its successful test launch from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on on June 17, 2025. Honda R&D Co. Ltd.

Honda's advance came as Japan's space agency, JAXA, also hopes to be a key force in lifting satellites into orbit after the successful July 2024 liftoff of its nex-gen non-reusable H3 rocket ...

Honda's reusable rocket prototype flies during a successful launch and landing test on June 17, 2025. ... (JAXA) to explore technologies needed for human space exploration.

Honda says that growing expectations of a "data system in outer space" are going to increase the demand for satellite launch rockets. So it quietly built one and tested it successfully.

Japan's H-2A rocket, built for JAXA by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was capable of launching payloads into a geostationary orbit around Earth and to orbit around the moon. It also launched the ...