The moon has languished in the shadows of space exploration since the heyday of manned missions in the 1960s and 1970s, eclipsed by projects focused on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, not to mention the U.S. space shuttle and the International Space Station.
But now the tide is turning as the major economies prepare to mount ambitious missions to explore Earth's nearest neighbor.
On Friday, Japan is scheduled to launch its SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) lunar exploration orbiter, nicknamed Kaguya, after the princess who returns to the moon in "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter," a folktale of the early Heian Period (794-1185).
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