Japan Station: the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. The space probe "Akatsuki" was launched May 20, 2010, and achieved orbit around Venus on December 9, 2015. Japan's plans in space exploration include: developing the "Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter" to be launched in 2018; and building a moon base by 2030. On September 14, 2007, it launched lunar explorer SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) on a H-IIA (Model H2A2022) carrier rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. SELENE is also known as Kaguya, after the lunar princess of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".
Lunar Orbital Station Lunar Orbital Station The Lunar Orbital Station is a proposed Russian space station in orbit around the Moon. The design was revealed in 2007 at a conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City. It is one of the two parts of the planned Russian lunar infrastructure, the other part being a base on the surface of the Moon. LOS will have six docking ports, high-power antenna for communications, maneuvering and attitude control engines, solar panels and a robotic arm, similar to the one developed by the European Space Agency for the Russian segment of the ISS. The