An H-2A rocket carrying Japan's first spy satellites blasts off from
the launching pad at Tanegashima Space Center on the Japanese
southwestern island, about 1,000-km (625 miles) south west of Tokyo
March 28, 2003. Japan blasted its first spy satellites into orbit,
giving Tokyo its first independent peek into heavily armed North Korea
but at the risk of provoking its communist neighbour into a missile
launch. REUTERS/Kimimasa Mayama

KM/CP