Comparison of Asian national space programs to fuel future energy demands in Asia. All three main Asian space powers plan to send men to the Moon in the distant future and have already sent lunar probes. Japan was the first Asian country to launch a lunar probe. The Hiten (Japanese: "flying angel") spacecraft (known before the launch as MUSES-A), built by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan, was launched on 24 January 1990. In many ways, the mission did not go as was planned. Kaguya, the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft, was launched on 14 September 2007. China launched its first lunar probe,
Explorer 9 Explorer 9 Explorer 9, known as S-56A before launch, was an American satellite which was launched in 1961 to study the density and composition of the upper thermosphere and lower exosphere. It was a reflight of the failed S-56 mission, and consisted of a , balloon which was deployed into a medium Earth orbit. The mission was conducted by NASA's Langley Research Center. Explorer 9 was launched from Launch Area 3 at the Wallops Flight Center, atop a Scout X-1 rocket with the serial number ST-4. It was the first spacecraft launched from Wallops Island to achieve orbit, with one