According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and JAXA launched the Global Changing Observation Mission 1st- Water “SHIZUKU” (GCOM-W1) and the Korean Multi-purpose Satelite 3 (KOMPSAT-3) of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No.21 (H-IIA F21) at 1:39 a.m. on May 18, 2012 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center.

The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 16 minutes and 3 seconds after lliftoff, the separation of the KOMPSAT-3, then at about 22 minutes and 59 seconds after liftoff, the separation of the SHIZUKU were confirmed respectively.

Also, JAXA confirmed that the launch vehicle sent separation signals to the small satellites (SDS-4 and Horyu-2) as planned.

As Japanese state-of the-art technology in space sector, JAXA has been active in promoting H-IIA Launch Vehicles. During the beginning period when JAXA developed H-IIA and started to launch it to the space, there was few successes. However, in these years, JAXA has achieved in launching H-IIA