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,
March 2007 lunar eclipse March 2007 lunar eclipse A total lunar eclipse took place on March 3, 2007, the first of two eclipses in 2007. The moon entered the penumbral shadow at 20:18 UTC, and the umbral shadow at 21:30 UTC. The total phase lasted between 22:44 UTC and 23:58 UTC with a distinctive brick-red shade (L=3 to L=4 on the Danjon scale). The moon left the umbra shadow at 01:11 UTC and left the penumbra shadow at 02:24 UTC 2007-03-04. The second lunar eclipse of 2007 occurred on August 28. The previous lunar eclipse on September 7, 2006 was partial. This eclipse is