Japan's Space One terminated the flight of its Kairos small rocket shortly after liftoff on Wednesday, marking the end of its second attempt in nine months to become the country's first company to deliver a satellite to space with a privately-developed rocket.

A Japanese space startup said its second attempt to launch a rocket carrying satellites into orbit had been aborted minutes after liftoff Wednesday, nine months after the company’s first launch attempt ended in an explosion.

Spectators gathered near the company’s coastal Spaceport Kii launch pad in Japan’s western Wakayama region expressed their disappointment to television cameras