TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) - Taiwanese aerospace startup TiSpace halted the flight of one of its rockets moments after takeoff from northern Japan on Saturday, missing the chance to become the first non-Japanese company to successfully launch from Japanese territory.

Through its local affiliate jtSPACE, TiSpace had aimed to reach an altitude of 100 km (62 miles) with its 12-meter (40-foot) hybrid-fuel VP01 rocket during its debut launch at the Hokkaido Spaceport.

The rocket launched at 11:40 a.m. local time (0240 GMT), but lost stability less than a minute into the flight and plummeted, as seen in video footage aired by Japan’s NHK broadcaster.

"We are currently investigating the flight incident," said a representative from Space Cotan, the organization overseeing operations at Hokkaido Spaceport.

This trial launch did not carry any satellite payload, though Space Cotan viewed it as an important step toward developing a fully operational satellite launch vehicle.

TiSpace, headed by a former official from Taiwan’s space program, has yet to record a successful spaceflight. The company turned to Japan for launch opportunities after an unsuccessful attempt in Australia in 2022.

Local leaders and businesses in Hokkaido saw the event as significant progress toward establishing an international space launch site. However, some Japanese space policy analysts have voiced concern over the potential reaction from China, which keeps a close eye on Taiwan's progress in missile-capable technologies.

Japan’s private space firms are striving to break into the commercial satellite launch industry, which is currently led by companies such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab from the United States. As of now, no domestically developed private rocket in Japan has managed to place a satellite into orbit.

Hokkaido-based Interstellar Technologies achieved a suborbital spaceflight in 2019, becoming the first private firm in Japan to do so, although that mission did not include a satellite.

Space One, supported by Canon Electronics, attempted two orbital launches last year, both unsuccessful. Meanwhile, automaker Honda recently completed a successful low-altitude flight of its experimental reusable rocket in Hokkaido, with plans to reach space by 2029.