JAXA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
宇宙航空研究開発機構

Explore to Realize
Acronym	JAXA
Owner	Japan
Established	1 October 2003 (Successor agency to NASDA 1969–2003, ISAS 1981–2003 and NAL 1955–2003)
Headquarters	Chōfu, Tokyo
Primary spaceport	Tanegashima Space Center
Motto	One JAXA
Administrator	Naoki Okumura
Budget	¥211.11 billion/ $2.03 billion (FY2013)
Website	www.jaxa.jp

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (国立研究開発法人宇宙航空研究開発機構, Kokuritsu-kenkyū-kaihatsu-hōjin Uchū Kōkū Kenkyū Kaihatsu Kikō^?, literally "National Research and Development Agency on Aerospace Research and Development"), or JAXA, is Japan's national aero-space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and the launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions, such as asteroid exploration and possible manned exploration of the Moon. Its motto is One JAXA and its corporate slogan is Explore to Realize (formerly Reaching for the skies, exploring space).

On 1 October 2003, three organizations were merged to form the new JAXA: Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (or ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), and National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). JAXA was formed as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

Before the merger, ISAS was responsible for space and planetary research, while NAL was focused on aviation research. NASDA, which was founded on 1 October 1969, had developed rockets, satellites, and also built the Japanese Experiment Module. The old NASDA headquarters were located at the current site of the Tanegashima Space Center, on Tanegashima Island, 115 kilometers south of Kyūshū. NASDA also trained Japanese astronauts, who flew with the US Space Shuttles.