Lambda 4S launched Japan’s first successful orbital mission.
The four-stage Lambda 4S rocket placed Ōsumi, Japan’s first satellite, into orbit on February 11, 1970. The launch took place from the Uchinoura Space Center, then known as the Kagoshima Space Center.
Japan had attempted four earlier launches of Lambda 4S rockets, but each failed to place a satellite into orbit. The successful fifth launch demonstrated Japan’s ability to develop and operate an independent orbital launch system.
The rocket was a solid-fuel vehicle developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. Its name is sometimes written as Lambda-4S or L-4S. Ōsumi was a small technology satellite used to study the launch vehicle and the space environment, rather than a crewed spacecraft or a large scientific observatory.