CHIGASAKI,
Japan (AP) -- Drums pounded and hundreds of hometown well-wishers roared with
joy Tuesday as Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi
blasted off aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
About
300 people braved a typhoon and crowded into a brightly decorated reception
room at City Hall to watch ride into space with six other astronauts. Chigasaki, a coastal city just south of Tokyo, is Noguchi's hometown.
"It's
magnificent," said Takakazu Ishii, 26, after
watching the liftoff. "It's amazing."
When
the launch was officially declared a success, the hall was filled with the
popping of firecrackers and cheers of ''Banzai!'' _ an
expression of congratulations that means "long life."
"We
are praying for you," said Mayor Nobuaki Hattori. "Mr. Noguchi, good
luck!"
Noguchi,
40, is the sixth Japanese astronaut to go into space, five of them aboard
American spacecraft. A Japanese TV journalist was the first, having paid his
way onto a flight with the Russians.
The
launch was shown live on big screens across Japan,
from a plaza in front of one of Tokyo's busiest
train stations to a holding room at Japan's space agency headquarters.
Millions more watched the broadcast live on NHK, Japan's public television network.
"It
appears to be going very smoothly," Mamoru
Mori, Japan's
first astronaut, told NHK shortly after the launch.
Japan, long the
premier space power in Asia, has closely tied its program to the United States.
Since 1992, it has relied exclusively on the United States for manned flights,
and, like NASA, is also a major participant in the International Space Station.
But
China has recently eclipsed Japan by sending its first astronauts into
orbit, a feat Japan
has yet to accomplish on its own.
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