Launch of Hiten Spacecraft

Date: January 24, 1990 • Location: Moscow, Russia

Japan launched the Hiten spacecraft (pictured), the first lunar probe launched by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States.

The Hiten spacecraft, given the English name Celestial Maiden and known before launch as MUSES-A, part of the MUSES Program, was built by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan and launched on January 24, 1990. It was Japan's first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. The spacecraft was named after flying heavenly beings in Japanese Buddhism.