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The H–I (H–1) was a Japanese medium-lift launch vehicle, consisting of a licence-produced American first stage and set of booster rockets, and all-Japanese upper stages. The H in the name represented the use of liquid hydrogen fuel in the second stage. It was launched nine times between 1986 and 1992. It replaced the N-II, and was subsequently replaced by the H-II, which used the same upper stages with a Japanese first stage.

The first stage of the H–I was a licence-built version of the Thor-ELT, which was originally constructed for the US Delta 1000 rocket. The stage had already been produced under licence in Japan for the N-I and N-II rockets. The second stage was entirely Japanese, using an LE-5 engine, the first rocket engine in Japan to use a cryogenic fuel. On launches to Geosynchronous transfer orbits, a Nissan–built UM-69A solid motor was used as a third stage. Depending on the mass of the payload, either six or nine US Castor 2 SRMs were used as booster rockets.

Launch history

Flight No.	Date / time (UTC)	Rocket, Configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Launch outcome
F15	12 August 1986, 20:45	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	EGP (Ajisai)	LEO	Success
F15	9 SRMs, 2 stages
F17	27 August 1987, 09:20	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	ETS-5 (Kiku-5)	GTO	Success
F17	9 SRMs, 3 stages
F18	19 February 1988, 10:05	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	CS-3A (Sakura-3A)	GTO	Success
F18	9 SRMs, 3 stages
F19	16 September 1988, 09:59	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	CS-3B (Sakura-3B)	GTO	Success
F19	9 SRMs, 3 stages
F20	5 September 1989, 19:11	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	GMS-4 (Himawari-4)	GTO	Success
F20	6 SRMs, 3 stages
F21	7 February 1990, 01:33	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	MOS-1B (Momo-1B)	LEO	Success
F21	9 SRMs, 2 stages
F22	28 August 1990, 09:05	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	BS-3A (Yuri-3A)	GTO	Success
F22	9 SRMs, 3 stages
F23	25 August 1991, 08:40	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	BS-3B (Yuri-3B)	GTO	Success
F23	9 SRMs, 3 stages
F24	11 February 1992, 01:50	H-I	Tanegashima, Osaki	Japanese Earth Resource Satellite (FUYO-1)	LEO	Success
F24	9 SRMs, 2 stages

When the H–1 was announced in 1986, company representative Tsuguo Tatakawe clarified that it would only be used to launch indigenous (i.e. Japanese) payloads, that only two launches per year could be mounted, and that the launch window consisted of a four-month period in which Japanese fishing fleets were not active (the falling launch boosters may damage fishing nets in the ocean waters).^[1]

References

^ Japan’s H–1 and H–2 rockets, Air & Space/Smithsonian, February/March 1987, p. 19

Wade, Mark. “Delta”. Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 17 August 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
McDowell, Jonathan. “Thor”. Orbital and Suborbital Launch Database. Jonathan’s Space Report. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
Krebs, Gunter. “H-1”. Gunter’s Space Page. Retrieved 31 August 2008.

[rdp-we-cite_note-1] Japan’s H–1 and H–2 rockets, Air & Space/Smithsonian, February/March 1987, p. 19

[1]

Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S 2^† Chollima-1 Electron Eris^† Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H3 HANBIT-NANO^† Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 2 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 6C 7 7A 8 11 11H 12 12A LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C New Glenn Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB Spectrum^† SSLV Starship Tianlong 2 3^† Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2E 3
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kinetica 2H 3 KSLV-III Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 Miura 5 Neutron New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Pallas-1 Red Dwarf RFA One SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R VLM Vega E Zero Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 “Full Thrust” Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIA H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 2-1v Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil’ Volna^† Rocket 3 RS1^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^† 2
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

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Launch history

See also

References