Japanese astronaut Kanai ready for 1st ISS Mission

December 10, 2017

Tokyo- Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai, 41, is ready to complete his change of course from deep sea to space by making his first space flight to the International Space Station for a long-stay mission.

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, carrying Kanai and two other astronauts to the ISS, is set to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 17.

Kanai, a former Maritime Self-Defense Force doctor specializing in submarine medicine, will be the 12th Japanese to travel space. Among them, Kanai will be the third doctor-turned-astronaut.

Kanai took the selection examination for astronauts in 2008. He was one of the 10 finalists selected from the 963 examinees. But at first, Kanai was put on a waiting list while other Japanese examinees Kimiya Yui, 47, and Takuya Onishi, 41, passed the test in February 2009.

After standing by for a half year, Kanai was accepted as an astronaut candidate in September that year and joined the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's training program.

Finishing the program in July 2011, Kanai, together with Yui and Onishi, was officially approved as an astronaut.

At the MSDF, Kanai mainly studied the physical and mental impact of the deep-sea and closed environments on divers and submarine crews.

"I guess I like extreme environments," Kanai says with a smile, talking about his change of course from deep sea to space. Jiji Press