Spokeswoman for JAXA, Eriko Sunada, commented on the event, "We successfully launched the rocket and released the orbiter from the rocket.”

Additional information on the SELENE (short for Selenological and Engineering Explorer) mission appears on the iTWire article “SELENE is ‘largest lunar mission since Apollo’”.

SELENE, nicknamed “Kaguya,” named after a Japanese folk story about a princess who goes to the Moon, was sent into space by a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H2A rocket, which separated from the spacecraft just over 45 minutes after liftoff. It will orbit the Earth twice before beginning its 237,500-mile (380,000-kilometer), 5-day journey to the Earth’s nearest neighbor in space.

When it reaches orbit about the Moon, the lunar orbiter will gather data for about one year on the origin and evolution of the Moon.

JAXA officials hope to learn additional information for future unmanned and manned missions to the Moon. Japan expects to send a manned mission to the Moon sometime around 2020 and build a space station on the lunar surface tentatively scheduled to begin in 2025.

{Author's note: Corrected location of Tanegashima Space Center based on reader's comment.}

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