The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that Kaguya (Selene), its lunar probed launched in September 14, was set into lunar orbit after completing a complicated navigational maneuver late Thursday.

"The satellite successfully entered the moon's orbit. We are glad that we achieved one of the big challenges in this mission," said Tatsuo Oshima, a spokesman from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The lunar orbiter, named Kaguya after a moon princess in an ancient Japanese folktale, it’s Japan’s first lunar satellite and it was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, about 700 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Initially the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) intended to launch the probe in August, but the problems caused by two components forces the Japanese scientists to postpone the launch. The previous setbacks for the country’s space program included an incident in 2003 when a rocket carrying two spy satellites was destroyed after it went off course.

According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency the Selenological and Engineering Explorer, Kaguya, would conduct the world's first full-scale and highest performing exploration of the moon since the US Apollo programme in the 1960s and 70s.

The main obejective of Kaguya is to probe the moon's surface, gather data on gravity and send back photos with a high-definition television camera. Kaguya will start its Moon exploration in December and until then will orbit Earth twice.

The satellite is projected to descend into orbit 60 miles above the moon's surface, mapping uncharted polar areas, examining the makeup of the soil and searching for signs of ice. Kaguya’s satellites will carry out 14 missions, including measuring the moon's gravity and determining its origin and evolution.

To garner public interest, the probe carries sheets engraved with messages from 412,627 people around the world in its "Wish upon the Moon" campaign.

JAXA is planning a manned mission to the Moon for 2020. Other nations are also planning moon missions. NASA is planning to launch an unmanned mission to the Moon in the fall of 2008. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic mission designed to create a new type of comprehensive, digital map of the Moon's features and resources, necessary to cost-effectively, but mostly will focus on selecting safe landing sites for future human missions.

The other countries are also considering unmanned missions. Earlier this year British space scientists have said they plan to undertake the country's first mission to the moon by the end of the decade. Germany also plans an unmanned flight to the moon by 2013.