Tanegashima, Japan ? The countdown is on. After 15 months of waiting, Japan is hoping to get back into the space race in Asia with today’s launch of its domestically designed H-2A rocket.

But with China now in the spotlight and memories still fresh of how Japan’s last mission ended in a fireball, officials admit it won’t be easy.

“This launch is crucial,” said Mamoru Endo, a senior official with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, as crews prepared the sleek black, white and orange rocket for its trip to the launchpad at the sprawling space center on this remote, semitropical island.

“But a single launch success is not enough to revive the reliability and reputation of the H-2A. I think maybe three or four successes will be necessary.”

Long Asia’s leading spacefaring nation, Japan is struggling to get out from under the shadow of China, which put its first astronaut into orbit in October 2003. A month later, a Japanese H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned after liftoff, forcing controllers to blow it up.

Last month, Beijing announced it would send two astronauts into orbit for up to five days this fall. China, which is believed to have earmarked $20 billion for its manned program, hopes to put an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010.

Though loathe to admit it, Japanese space agency officials have been shaken by China’s advances.

“We aren’t especially conscious of China,” Endo said, noting that the two nations’ space programs have different objectives.

But he acknowledged a government panel recommended last year that Japan, which has focused on unmanned, scientific probes, consider a manned space program during the next decade. He also said that, although the space agency’s budget has been generally declining, there was growing political support for increasing it in the near future.

China’s lofty ambitions have caught the attention of U.S. officials as well.

Mindful of the Chinese challenge but careful to call it a “journey and not a race,” President Bush has outlined an ambitious plan to put an astronaut back on the moon by 2020 and send Americans to Mars, a program that could cost $400 billion.