H-IIA (JAXA/MHI)

The H-IIA is a Japanese medium-lift launch vehicle developed by JAXA and manufactured and operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). MHI took over management from JAXA on 2007-04-01 and operated the vehicle commercially from Tanegashima Space Center.^[1] The vehicle flew 50 times over its operational life, accumulating 49 successes in 50 flights across civil, commercial, and governmental payloads, according to available mission records.^[2][1] Earth observation missions in its launch history include GCOM-W1, ALOS-2, GOSAT, and GOSAT-2, among others.^[1] The final flight, F50, carried the GOSAT-GW greenhouse gas monitoring satellite and lifted off on 28 June 2025, ending H-IIA operations.^[3][4] H-IIA has been succeeded by the H3 vehicle, a separate development programme under MHI and JAXA.