Mitsubishi Heavy Industries mulls upgraded H3 rocket variants for lunar missions

by Caleb Henry — October 25, 2019

As Japan prepares to join NASA’s Artemis lunar program, the country’s largest rocket manufacturer says it could upgrade the H3 rocket debuting next year to deliver cargo to the moon as soon as 2025.

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Japanese cargo spacecraft launch rescheduled after pad fire

by Jeff Foust — September 20, 2019

The launch of a Japanese cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station has been rescheduled for Sept. 24 after a launch pad fire scrubbed the original launch attempt earlier this month.

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Koichi Wakata, JAXA vice president and astronaut, helps chart future of ISS and human space exploration

by Debra Werner — July 27, 2018

Koichi Wakata, the Japanese space agency’s vice president and director general for human spaceflight technology, is intimately familiar with the International Space Station. As an astronaut, he helped assemble the space station in 2000 and lived onboard for four months in 2009 and six months in 2013 and 2014.

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Japanese Cargo Spacecraft Heads To Space Station

by Jeff Foust — August 19, 2015

An H-2 rocket successfully launched a Japanese cargo spacecraft carrying more than four tons of supplies and equipment for the International Space Station Aug. 19.

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