TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's space agency said it steered a new satellite near its planned orbit Saturday using backup thrusters, after the main engines stalled.

The communications satellite, which was propelled into space atop an H-2A rocket, exhausted the fuel in its main tank Friday before reaching its geostationary orbit 22,320 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, said Isamu Matsumoto, an official at the National Space Development Agency of Japan.

But agency officials fired the satellite's backup thrusters, normally used for minor position adjustments, for about a half hour to lift it nearly 2,480 miles (4,000 kilometers) Saturday, the agency said. The satellite is expected to drift into its orbit path over the next month, it said.

The delay wasn't expected to impair the satellite's mission or shorten its expected seven-year life span, Matsumoto said.

The H-2A, developed by Japan, lifted off successfully on Tuesday carrying two satellites -- a communications satellite to help relay transmissions between the International Space Station and Earth and an experimental probe to test re-entry technology.