at the end of the 1990s, with two H-II launch failures, Japanese rocket technology began to face criticism. Japan's first space mission under JAXA, an H-IIA rocket launch on 29 November 2003, ended in failure due to stress problems. After a 15-month hiatus, JAXA performed a successful launch of an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center, placing a satellite into orbit on 26 February 2005. On 10 September 2009, the first H-IIB rocket was successfully launched, delivering the HTV-1 freighter to resupply the International Space Station. To be able to launch smaller mission on JAXA developed a new solid-fueled rocket, the Epsilon as a replacement to the retired M-V. The maiden flight successfully happened in 2013. So far, the rocket has flown four times without any launch failures. In January 2017, JAXA attempted and failed to put a miniature satellite into orbit atop one of its SS520 series rockets. A second attempt on 2 February 2018 was successful, putting a four kilogram CubeSat into Earth orbit. The rocket, known as the SS-520-5, is the world's smallest orbital launcher. In January 2021, JAXA shipped an H3 rocket to Tanegashima Space Center to begin launch trials, in an effort to phase out and replace the H-IIA series. Lunar and interplanetary missions Japan's first missions beyond Earth orbit were the 1985 Halley's comet observation satellites Sakigake (MS-T5) and Suisei (PLANET-A). To prepare for future missions, ISAS tested Earth swing by orbits with the Hiten mission in 1990. The first Japanese interplanetary mission was the Mars Orbiter Nozomi (PLANET-B), which was launched in 1998. It passed Mars in 2003, but failed to reach Mars orbit due to maneuvering systems failures earlier in the mission. Currently interplanetary missions remain at the ISAS group under the JAXA umbrella. However, for FY 2008 JAXA is planning to set up an independent working group within the organization. New head for this group will be Hayabusa project manager Kawaguchi. Active Missions: PLANET-C, IKAROS, Hayabusa2, BepiColombo Under Development: SLIM, MMX, DESTINY+ Retired: PLANET-B, SELENE, MUSES-C Cancelled: LUNAR-A Small body exploration: Hayabusa mission On 9 May 2003, Hayabusa (meaning, Peregrine falcon), was launched from an M-V rocket. The goal of the mission was to collect samples from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa. The craft rendezvoused with the asteroid in September 2005. It was confirmed that the spacecraft successfully landed on the asteroid in November 2005, after some initial confusion