Japan sets date for lunar launch
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From Times Staff and Wire Reports
All systems are finally “go” for Japan’s first lunar orbiter, which is to be launched Aug. 16, officials announced Wednesday.
Japan’s space agency, known as JAXA, announced that the much-delayed craft, the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (Selene for short), will be aboard an H-2A rocket to be launched from a space center on the remote southern island of Tanegashima.
The $269-million Selene is four years behind schedule.
Japan launched a lunar flyby mission in 1990.
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