Japan launches first lunar probe
‘Japan’s space agency has successfully launched its first lunar probe on a mission to explore the Moon.
A rocket carrying the orbiter blasted off from the space centre on the remote southern island of Tanegashima.
Over the course of a year, the orbiter will gather data on the Moon’s origin and evolution.
Japanese scientists say it is the most complex lunar mission since Nasa’s Apollo programme in the 1960s and 70s, when astronauts walked on the Moon.’
