H-II

H-2

Mission Profile

The H-II was Japan's first fully domestically developed liquid-propellant launch vehicle, powered by the LE-7 cryogenic engine — Japan's first indigenous liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen rocket engine developed without foreign technology transfer. Standing 49 m tall with a 4 m diameter and a liftoff mass of 264 tonnes, it generated 6,424 kN of combined thrust and could deliver 10,000 kg to low Earth orbit. First flying in February 1994, the H-II demonstrated Japan's advanced engineering capabilities but was ultimately retired after two successive mission failures in 1998 and 1999, leading directly to the development of the improved and more reliable H-IIA.