Japanese astronaut to command ISS - News24

2013-08-29 07:27 Video ISS crew wish Mandela well 2013-07-19 09:44 The crew of the International Space Station pledge their support for Nelson Mandela's ongoing legacy. Watch.WATCH kalahari.com NASA The USA accelerated the space race in 1958 by forming NASA. Eager readers will learn about the... Now R441.00 buy now Cape Canaveral - The first Japanese astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station is preparing for a return flight, this time to serve as commander, officials said on Wednesday. Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, is due to leave in November with a pair of veteran astronauts from the US and Russia. Wakata, 50, is expected to take command of the orbital research outpost in March, marking the first time a Japanese astronaut will lead a human space mission. "It means a lot to Japan to have its own representative to command the International Space Station," Wakata told a news conference broadcast from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. "It's a big milestone for Japan... to have this experience," he said. Experience In 2009, Wakata became the first astronaut from Japan to live aboard the $100bn research laboratory that flies about 400km above Earth. Japan, one of 15 nations participating in the project, provided the station's largest and most elaborate laboratory, named Kibo, as well as cargo resupply ships. Wakata, who was part of two missions on Nasa's now-retired space shuttles, is training for his fourth flight along with Nasa astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, both 53. Mastracchio, a veteran of three shuttle missions and one of Nasa's most experienced spacewalkers, will be making his first long-duration flight. Tyurin will be living aboard the station for a third time. Command of the station typically rotates between a US astronaut and Russian cosmonaut. In 2009, Belgium astronaut Frank De Winne became the first European to command the station. Canada's first commander, Chris Hadfield, was in charge from March until May. Wakata, a native of Saitama, Japan, holds a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering, a master's in applied mechanics and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Kyushu University. Before being selected as an astronaut in 1992, he worked as an aircraft structural engineer for Japan Airlines. Wakata's first two spaceflights, in January 1996 and October 2000, were aboard Nasa space shuttles. Upon returning to the station in November, Wakata will serve as a flight engineer before taking over command in March. Read more on:    nasa  |  jaxa  |  space via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHXKQhgjolHWRTgvuqqTBk68EWeUA&url=http://www.news24.com/Technology/News/Japanese-astronaut-to-command-ISS-20130829

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