The 87 kg Laser Ranging Experiment was a passive mirror ball of diameter 51 cm and carried 24 glass sheets and 126 prisms on its surface. It was ejected from the H-2A to ascertain the rocket's potential capability for precisely launching four-metric ton payloads with the help of light echoes from the LRE.

Length: 0.51 m (1.67 ft). Maximum Diameter: 0.51 m (1.67 ft). Span: 0.51 m (1.67 ft). Mass: 87 kg (191 lb).

• 2001 August 29 - LRE - Launch Site: Tanegashima. Launch Complex: Y. Launch Vehicle: H-2. Mass: 3,500 kg (7,700 lb). Perigee: 271 km (168 mi). Apogee: 36,214 km (22,502 mi). Inclination: 28.00 deg.
  Launch postponed from february, July 22 and August 25. First launch of the H-2A launch vehicle. A failure after all of the problems with the earlier H-2 version would probably have resulted in cancellation of the program. The Laser Ranging Experiment satellite carried 126 laser retro reflectors and separated from the second stage at 0739 GMT into its operational 'Molniya' type orbit. The eventual goal of H-2A was to launch geosynchronous spacecraft at costs comparable to those of other countries. The LRE remained in a simulated geosynchronous transfer orbit; laser reflections from it would be used to precisely ascertain the orbital injection accuracy of the H-2A.