Fire forces Japan to cancel rocket launch to ISS

A fire broke out near a rocket launch pad on Tanegashima Island in southwestern Japan which led to the cancellation of an unmanned rocket launch on Wednesday.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's cargo vessel Kounotori8 was scheduled to launch on H-2B rocket on Wednesday at 6:33 am with supplies to the International Space Station, reported Japan Times

It was intended to supply Kounotori8, named with a word meaning "white stork" in Japanese, was intended to deliver about 5.3 tons of supplies to astronauts at the space station, including food and water as well as batteries and devices needed for experiments, the agency said.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said it decided to cancel the launch to check for possible damage to the rocket.

"Today's launch is postponed because we found a fire around the hole at the deck of the mobile launcher at 3:05 a.m. JST. Now we are trying to extinguish a fire. #H2BF8," tweeted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.