Japan's Mars probe is in trouble. Its weather satellites are breaking down. And its latest attempt to put a pair of spy satellites into orbit ended last weekend in a 110 billion yen fireball.
While rival China is basking in the glory of its first manned space flight, Japan's new space agency is off to a decidedly inauspicious start.
"Is this the best we can do?" asked an editorial in the Asahi Shimbun after an H-IIA rocket carrying the two spy satellites failed to launch properly and was detonated midair over the Tanegashima Space Center.