Selene / Kaguya

Kaguya was the name of a Japanese princess. The same name has been given to the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft which is technically Selenological and Engineering Explorer or SELENE. It was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, on September 14, 2007. After successfully orbiting the moon for 1 year and 8 months, the main orbiter was intentionally crashed onto the lunar surface near Gill lunar crater on June 10, 2009.

The orbiter’s nickname, Kaguya, was selected by the general public. It comes from the name of a lunar princess in the ancient Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. After their successful release, its sub-satellites, Rstar and Vstar, were named Okina and Ouna, also derived from characters in the tale.