(にほん)

Japan

(かいしゃ)

company

(ろけっと)

rocket

(うちゅう)

space; universe

(つくる)

to make

(かごしまけん)

Kagoshima Prefecture

(しま)

island

(うちあげる)

to launch (a rocket)

(ちいさい)

small

(じんこうえいせい)

artificial satellite

(のる)

to ride, board

(せいこう)

success

(ねんまえ)

years ago

(できる)

to be able; to be made

(あたらしい)

new

(いま)

now

(かい)

time(s), counter for occurrences

(しっぱい)

failure

(こんかい)

this time

(もんだい)

problem

(ちきゅう)

Earth, the globe

(しゃしん)

photograph

(とる)

to take (a photo)

(てんき)

weather

(しらべる)

to investigate; to survey

(つかう)

to use

(しゃちょう)

company president

(たくさん)

a lot / many

(ひと)

person / people

(きょうりょく)

cooperation

(うまくいく)

to go well, succeed

(はなす)

to speak, talk

(らいねん)

next year

(もっと)

more / further

(おおきい)

big; large

passive: be done (to)

The passive lets the news report an event without naming who did it. 打ち上げられました focuses on the rocket rather than the launch team, and 使われます says what the satellites will be used for.

native Japanese counter for objects

つ counts small objects when no special counter is used. 5つ tells us how many satellites the rocket was carrying.

was doing, had been doing

Past progressive or past continuous state. Formed with て-form + いた. Describes an action or state that was ongoing in the past.

did ... (polite past)

Polite past tense of verbs. Formed with verb stem + ました. Used in formal or polite speech to describe completed actions.

polite copula / is, am, are

Describes states such as the mother panda being healthy and the baby being small.

but / although

Connects two clauses with a contrastive 'but/although' nuance.

Did not ~ (polite past negative)

Polite past negative form of verbs. Expresses that something did not happen in the past.

doing things like ~ and ~

Lists representative actions among several. Implies there are other actions too. Used twice in this article.

in order to ～

Expresses purpose.

to do ~ for me/us (favor)

Indicates that someone does something kindly for the speaker. Here 応援してくれて (cheered me on).

because ~ / since ~

Causal connector. Because JA is buying at higher prices, store prices will also rise.

plan to / is scheduled to

Indicates a scheduled plan or intent.

日本の会社のロケットが宇宙へ

A Japanese company's rocket heads into space

日本の会社が作ったロケットが、鹿児島県の島から打ち上げられました。

A rocket built by a Japanese company was launched from an island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

ロケットには、小さい人工衛星が5つ乗っていました。

The rocket was carrying five small satellites.

打ち上げは成功しました。

The launch was a success.

この会社は、5年前にできた新しい会社です。

This company is a new one, founded five years ago.

今までに2回失敗しましたが、今回は問題がありませんでした。

It had failed twice up to now, but this time there were no problems.

人工衛星は、地球の写真を撮ったり、天気を調べたりするために使われます。

The satellites will be used for things like taking photographs of the Earth and studying the weather.

会社の社長は「たくさんの人が協力してくれたので、うまくいきました」と話しました。

The company president said, "It went well because so many people helped us."

会社は来年、もっと大きいロケットを打ち上げる予定です。

Next year the company plans to launch an even bigger rocket.