Japan launches <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiten_(spacecraft)" id="mw9w" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Hiten (spacecraft)">Hiten</a>, the country's first <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_probe" id="mw-A" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Lunar probe">lunar probe</a>, the first robotic lunar probe since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" id="mw-Q" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_24" id="mw-g" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Luna 24">Luna 24</a> in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.