the soviet union was the first country to go to space.
which country was the first to go to space?
the soviet union
while the achievements of space programs run by the main asian space players (china, india, and japan) pale in comparison to the milestones set by the former soviet union and the united states, some experts believe asia may soon lead the world in space exploration. each asian spacefaring country has its own dominance in specific aerospace aspect. for instance, the first chinese manned spaceflight, in 2003, marked the beginning of a space race in the region and india is the first asian country to successfully launch a mars orbiter (and the first country in the world to do so in its first attempt). at the same time, the existence of a space race in asia is still debated due to the non-concurrence of space milestone events like there was for the united states and the soviet union. japan for example was the first power on earth to get a sample return mission from an asteroid. there was however some concurrence between china and india to see which of those two could be the first to launch a probe to the earth's moon back in the late 2000s decade. china, for example, denies that there is an asian space race.
comparison of asian national space programs
irem released a promotional space in the asian and japanese versions of playstation home, the playstation 3's online community-based service. the space is called the "irem square". this space features various "night stalls" with free items such as a yukata and was released on 26 february 2009 in the japanese version. users can also access the game space for "minna de spelunker" from this space. on 1 april 2009, irem gave away free "combatant of the black irem brigade" suits in the space that were only available for that day. there is also a store in the space that users can purchase items from irem. this space was released in the asian home on july 16, 2009, but the only way users could access it, at the time, was by riding in the space ship that was accessed at the "bus stop" in the home square. the ship departed every fifteen minutes and after landing, users got a hat that is modeled after the ship. the space was added to asia's world map on 23 july 2009. on 13 august 2009, irem added another space called the "seaside of memories", which is a beach resort with three accessible huts. the first hut has a shop for swimsuit apparel and the other two are just for users to sit and chat. this is also the first home space to let users go in and under the water and if they stay under the water too long, they get sent back to the entrance of the space. on 3 december 2009, irem released another space to japan for their game "" called the sparkling flash space, which is based in space and features displays of three r-type shooters and a mini-game. during the holiday season in home, irem redecorated their spaces for the occasion. irem redecorated the spaces, except the sparkling flash space, for christmas from 17 december 2009 until 7 january 2010. they were decorated for the new year (2010) from 7 january 2010 to 14 january 2010 in japan and from 7 january 2010 to 21 january 2010 in asia. from 28 january 2010 to 18 february 2010, there was an event going on, in collaboration between irem, nippon ichi software, and sony computer entertainment, in asia called the "black irem brigade".
irem