Japan launches fairy princess flight to Moon

William Atkins
Friday, 14 September 2007 20:27

Science - Space

On Friday, September 14, 2007, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its SELENE spacecraft at 10:31 a.m. Japanese time (9:31 p.m. EDT, 0131 GMT).  It is the country's first orbiter spacecraft launched toward the Moon.                

The lunar orbiter spacecraft was launched from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima, south of the island of Kyushu by about 70 miles (115 kilometers). The largest major city from the space center is Kagoshima, which is the capital city of Kyushu.

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.}