in Japan, and some offices overseas. Its headquarters are in Chōfu, Tokyo. It also has Earth Observation Research Center (EORC), Tokyo Earth Observation Center (EOC) in Hatoyama, Saitama Noshiro Testing Center (NTC) in Noshiro, Akita – Established in 1962. It carries out development and testing of rocket engines. Sanriku Balloon Center (SBC) – Balloons have been launched from this site since 1971. Kakuda Space Center (KSPC) in Kakuda, Miyagi – Leads the development of rocket engines. Works mainly with development of liquid-fuel engines. Sagamihara Campus (ISAS) in Sagamihara, Kanagawa – Development of experimental equipment for rockets and satellites. Also administrative buildings. Tanegashima Space Center in Tanegashima, Kagoshima – currently the launch site for the H-IIA and H-IIB rockets. Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC) in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. This is the center of Japan's space network. It is involved in research and development of satellites and rockets, and tracking and controlling of satellites. It develops experimental equipment for the Japanese Experiment Module ("Kibo"). Training of astronauts also takes place here. For International Space Station operations, the Japanese Flight Control Team is located at the Space Station Integration & Promotion Center (SSIPC) in Tsukuba. SSIPC communicates regularly with ISS crewmembers via S-band audio. Uchinoura Space Center in Kimotsuki, Kagoshima – currently the launch site for the Epsilon rocket. Rockets JAXA uses the H-IIA (H "two" A) rocket from the former NASDA body and its variant H-IIB to launch engineering test satellites, weather satellites, etc. For science missions like X-ray astronomy, JAXA uses the Epsilon rocket. For experiments in the upper atmosphere JAXA uses the SS-520, S-520, and S-310 sounding rockets. Communication ground stations for interplanetary spacecraft Usuda Deep Space Center is a spacecraft tracking station in Saku, Nagano (prior to 2005 known as Usuda Town), the first deep-space antenna constructed with beam-waveguide technology, and for many years, Japan’s only ground station for communication with interplanetary spacecraft in deep space. Opening in 1984, the 64 meter antenna, built by Mitsubishi Electric, primarily operated in the X- and S- band frequencies. Upon completion in 2021, MDSS would succeed UDSC in becoming the primary antenna for JAXA's Deep Space Network. Misasa Deep Space Station (MDSS), also in Saku, Nagano (and just over one kilometer northwest from Usuda DSC), also known as GREAT (Ground Station for Deep Space Exploration and Telecommunication) was completed in 2021 at a cost of over ten billion Yen. It is equipped with a