The launch of Japan’s hefty SELENE moon probe this week has been delayed one day due to weather concerns.

Nicknamed Kaguya after a princess in a Japanese fairy tale, the three-ton lunar orbiter is now slated to launch spaceward late Thursday at 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 Sept. 14 GMT). It will be Friday morning at the probe’s Tanegashima Space Center launch site in Japan.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Kaguya probe carries 14 different science instruments to study the lunar surface and its gravity field as part of Japan’s SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE) mission. Kaguya carries a pair of mini-satellites to aid its planned one-year study of the moon.

Anticipated bad weather at Kaguya’s launch site was expected to hinder prelaunch preparations, JAXA officials said. Liftoff was slated for Wednesday night at 9:35 p.m. EDT (0135 Sept. 13 GMT).

“We will reexamine weather and other conditions tomorrow for launch on the 14th,” JAXA officials said.

Kaguya is the first of a flotilla of moon-bound probes from Japan, China, India and the U.S. to be launched in 2007 and 2008.