Sakigake:
Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary mission, was essentially a test to prepare to send a second, almost identical probe called Suisei to study comet Halley. After Sakigake proved Japan was ready to explore deep space, Suisei was launched eight months later.

Both Sakigake and Suisei were part of the international fleet sent to study comet Halley as it passed through the inner solar system in the mid 1980s. Sakigake's main role was to provide a distant reference point to help scientists interpret data sent from probes that flew much closer to the nucleus of the comet. Sakigake's closest approach to comet Halley was 7 million km (about 4.4 million miles).

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7 Jan 1985:  Launch (19:26 UT) 11 Mar 1986:  Comet Halley Flyby Status:  Mission Complete Show All Dates for Sakigake		Solar System Bodies: Comets Sakigake Multimedia Gallery Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency: Sakigake Homepage National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog: Sakigake
Sakigake was the first deep space mission launched by any country other than the United States and the Soviet Union. The spacecraft was nearly identical to the Japanese Suisei spacecraft launched eight months later. Sakigake means pioneer in Japanese.