Japanese space program

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The Japanese space program (Japanese: 日本の宇宙開発) has cumulatively launched 384 spacecraft since 1970, the fifth most of any nation. It is currently operated by JAXA, formed from a 2003 merger of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), and National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan. In recent years, Japanese space policy has been shaped by the US-Japan alliance and intensifying great power competition. JAXA deployed the SELENE lunar orbiter and the SLIM lander and rovers. Hayabusa achieved the world's first asteroid sample return in 2010; Hayabusa2 deployed the first rovers on an asteroid. Akatsuki studied Venus from orbit from 2015 to 2024. IKAROS was its largest solar sail research mission. BepiColombo, jointly launched with the European Space Agency in 2018, is a Mercury flyby and orbiter mission. Martian Moons eXploration is planned to launch in December 2026 and conduct the first sample return from Phobos. JAXA operates the medium-lift H3 rocket, from Tanegashima Space Center, and small-lift Epsilon family, from Uchinoura. JAXA is one of five agencies operating the International Space Station (ISS). Japan constructed Kibō, its largest module, and regularly resupplies the station with the HTV-X cargo spacecraft, and the H-II Transfer Vehicle from 2009 to 2025. Since 1992, Japan's Astronaut Corps has flown eleven astronauts aboard Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and Dragon 2 crafts, primarily to the ISS.