Abstract

Japan's space agency said on Friday it had successfully manoeuvred its first lunar probe into orbit around the Moon, before similar missions planned by the US, China and India in an accelerating global space race. Although it is Asia's richest and most technologically sophisticated country, Japan still has something to prove in space. It has never launched a manned space mission - something China did in 2003 - and its rocket and satellite programmes have been plagued by embarrassing failures.

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