Japanese astronaut Noguchi chosen for 2nd long stay in ISS

November 7, 2017

TOKYO- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Tuesday that astronaut Soichi Noguchi has been chosen as a crew member of a long-stay mission of about six months from around the end of 2019 in the International Space Station.

For Noguchi, 52, it will be the third spaceflight, and the second long stay in the ISS following one from December 2009 to June 2010.

At present, all astronauts on ISS missions use Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Depending on the timing of completion of new spaceships under development by US aerospace giant Boeing Co. and US upstart Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Noguchi may travel to the ISS aboard a new spaceship, according to JAXA.

Noguchi, from Yokohama, south of Tokyo, worked as an engineer at Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., the predecessor of Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp., before being selected as an astronaut candidate in May 1996.

In April 2001, Noguchi was chosen to board a US space shuttle, but his debut in space was postponed due to the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in February 2003.

Noguchi made his first spaceflight in July 2005, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery and contributed to the mission including activities outside the spaceship.

Becoming the first JAXA astronaut to board a Soyuz in December 2009, he stayed in the ISS for about six months from that time.

In a statement issued Tuesday through JAXA, Noguchi said, "I appreciate this valuable opportunity given to me, which will mark my third spaceflight."

"In addition to being greatly honored, I am also very humbled to be able to participate in a mission that will mark a commemorable turning point in the history of human spaceflight," Noguchi said.

It will be the ninth ISS long-stay mission for a Japanese astronaut. Noguchi will be the second Japanese astronaut to make a long stay in the ISS for a second time, after Koichi Wakata, 54.

In December this year, another Japanese astronaut, Norishige Kanai, 40, will make his first spaceflight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and join a long-stay mission in the ISS. Jiji Press