06 October 2007
Credit: Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
On 4 October 2007, the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit. The next step for Kaguya is to release its smaller companion spacecrafts, the Relay Satellite and the VRAD Satellite, respectively.
Kaguya now orbits the Moon every 16 hours 42 minutes, in an elliptical orbit whose altitude varies from 11,741 km to 101 km. Kaguya was launched on 14 September 2007, aboard the H-IIA F13 rocket.
Kaguya carries messages and signs that were collected from 412,627 people around the world through the Wish upon the Moon Campaign and engraved on the sheets to be aboard Kaguya. In a Japanese folktale, Kaguya is a princess who ascended to the Moon.
Further Reading
Kaguya
http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f13/index_e.html
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist