Kenya's 1st Satellite Released from Japan's "Kibo" Module at ISS

Tokyo, May 11 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, released three foreign-made microsatellites, including the first Kenyan-developed satellite, from Japan's "Kibo" experimental module at the International Space Station on Friday night. The Kenyan satellite, named 1KUNS-PF, was developed by the University of Nairobi. One of the two remaining satellites is called Irazu, which is the first Costa Rican-developed satellite, and the other, named Ubakusat, was developed by Turkey's Istanbul Technical University. The three microsatellites were transported to the ISS by a U.S. spacecraft last month. Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai, 41, who started a six-month ISS mission last December, worked to prepare for their deployments. Amina Mohamed, cabinet secretary for Kenya's Ministry of Education, who watched the deployment of the Kenyan satellite in the control room of JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, said that the satellite release was a historic first step for the African country. Mohamed added that she hopes this event will encourage young Kenyans to dream of developing satellites. In 2015, JAXA signed a pact with the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs for providing developing countries with opportunities to deploy microsatellites from the Kibo experimental module. Kenya's 1KUNS-PF was selected as the first satellite to be released under the pact. END