2007 in spaceflight Moon. Japan's Kaguya orbiter, along with the smaller Okina and Ouna relay spacecraft, was launched on 14 September. The spacecraft entered Selenocentric orbit on 3 October. China launched its first Lunar probe, Chang'e 1, on 24 October, with the spacecraft entering Selenocentric orbit on 5 November. In 2009, two satellites launched into highly elliptical Earth orbits in 2007 as part of the THEMIS mission were also sent to the Moon. They are expected to arrive in October 2010. In August, the NASA Phoenix spacecraft was launched towards Mars, followed by the Dawn mission to the Asteroid belt in September. Cassini
Cygnus (spacecraft) Cygnus (spacecraft) The Cygnus spacecraft is an American automated cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences and now built and launched by Northrop Grumman as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) developmental program. It is launched by Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket or ULA's Atlas V and is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle. Since August 2000 ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by Russian Progress, as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the