Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japanese government agency in charge of research in both aviation and space exploration. Its headquarters are in Tokyo. JAXA is divided into seven bodies: the Space Transportation Mission Directorate, which develops launch vehicles; the Space Applications Mission Directorate, which is in charge of Earth-observing satellites; the Human Space Systems and Utilization Mission Directorate, which runs Japan’s crewed spaceflight program; the Aerospace Research and Development Directorate, which concentrates on technological improvements for aviation and spaceflight; the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, which is in charge of scientific satellites; the Aviation Program Group, which concentrates on new technologies for aviation; and the Lunar and Planetary Exploration Program Group, which concerns exploration of the solar system.

JAXA arose from two earlier Japanese space agencies. The University of Tokyo had created the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) in 1964. This small group undertook the development of scientific spacecraft and the vehicles needed to launch them, and it launched Japan’s first satellite, Osumi, in 1970. In 1981 oversight of ISAS was transferred to the Japanese Ministry of Education. In 1969 the Japanese government founded the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), which subsequently undertook a comprehensive program of space technology and satellite development and built a large launch vehicle, called the H-II, for those satellites. NASDA selected the first Japanese astronauts in 1990 for flights on the U.S. space shuttle. In 2001 both ISAS and NASDA came under the control of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In 2003 ISAS, NASDA, and the National Aerospace Laboratory were merged into JAXA. Since its formation, JAXA has built a module, Kibo (launched in 2008), for the International Space Station, sent a probe, Kaguya (launched in 2007), to study the Moon, and returned material from the asteroid belt to Earth (in 2010) on board the Hayabusa probe.