Based on the Space Development Program enacted by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), NASDA was responsible for developing satellites and launch vehicles as well as launching and tracking them.

The first launch vehicles of NASDA (N-I, N-II, and H-I) were partially based on licensed technology from the United States, particularly the Delta rocket family.

The H-II was the first liquid fuel rocket to be fully developed in Japan.

[1] On October 1, 2003, NASDA merged with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) into one Independent Administrative Institution: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

[2] Work on the Japanese Experiment Module at ISS, and also HOPE-X, was started under NASDA and inherited by JAXA.