The Tsukuba Space Center is the operations facility and headquarters for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Opened in 1972, It’s the main facility of the Japan’s space operations and research programs. It’s located at around 50km northeast of Tokyo, in the Science City of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.
It has several tests installations, like a chamber reproducing the spatial conditions (vacuum, thermal) 14 meters in diameter. It’s also the assembly and test center of the International Space Station module Kibō . Furthermore, it serves as a place of development and operation of Japanese satellites. The analysis of the differents observations data acquired by these satellite takes place in this center. Japanese astronauts involved in the International Space Station are even trained in part here in addition to the training they receive in Houston, Texas.
The Tsukuba Space Center offers tours of the facility as well as an exhibit hall, the “Space Dome”. It show in a general way the current status and advancement of Japan’s space development. This exhibit hall contains several reproductions of different Japanese satellites as well as a full-sized mock-up of the Kibō module on the International Space Station.
Outside, It’s possible to see a real H-II transfer vehicle.
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