By RINTARO SAKURAI/ Staff Writer
December 29, 2021 at 17:55 JST
An artist’s rendition of an astronaut exploring the moon (Provided by NASA)
The government plans to land a Japanese astronaut on the moon in the second half of the 2020s who would become the first non-American to reach the surface of Earth’s natural satellite.
The lunar goal was announced at a Dec. 28 meeting of the Space Development Strategy Headquarters, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, that discussed revisions of Japan’s basic space policy.
It was the first time for Japan to specify a time frame for a human landing on the moon.
Japan has already decided to join the U.S.-led Artemis program aimed at exploring the moon and landing an astronaut there in or after 2025.
The last time a human has reached the moon’s surface was decades ago in NASA’s Apollo program.
NASA is now leading a project to launch a cislunar space station called Gateway.
Japan will contribute to the Gateway project by developing a new type of an unmanned logistics vehicle to transport goods to the space station as well as a manned lunar rover vehicle.
New legislation gives companies legal rights to lunar resources
September 1, 2021
China's Mars rover touches ground on red planet
May 22, 2021
SpaceX launches 3rd crew with recycled rocket and capsule
April 24, 2021
Japan billionaire Maezawa set to land in Kazakhstan after 12-day space flight
December 20, 2021
Japan billionaire Maezawa to fulfil childhood dream with space flight
December 7, 2021
China lands on Mars in major advance for its space ambitions
May 15, 2021
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
