Japanese Astronaut to Command International Space Station
Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will become commander of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021.
Hoshide, 51, will become the second Japanese national to do the job. The first was Koichi Wakata, who was commander for two months in 2014.
Hoshide was originally scheduled to be aboard the space station from May 2020, but the spacecraft he was to use to get there experienced delays in development. The launch is now scheduled for spring 2021.
Hoshide will stay on the ISS for six months. While on board, he will work on maintenance projects and scientific experiments, and operate the space station's robotic arm. The robotic arm, called Canadarm2, is used to move supplies, equipment and even astronauts. It also catches and docks the unmanned spacecraft that deliver supplies to the station.
This isn't Hoshide's first visit to the space station. He also went to the ISS in 2008 using the US Space Shuttle, and in 2012 using a Russian Soyuz.
In 2021, Hoshide will be using the newly developed Crew Dragon spacecraft to get to the ISS. Hoshide said that he has been training for a long stay aboard the station, and is honored to board the new spacecraft.
The Dragon spacecraft has been developed by SpaceX, a US company founded by Elon Musk. Until this year, the spacecraft only carried cargo to the space station. In May, however, it became the first private spacecraft to carry humans to the space station when it took US astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS, and returned them to Earth 63 days later.
The spacecraft is also designed for private use to take people into orbit to see the Earth from space.
Another Japanese astronaut, Soichi Noguchi, is scheduled to use the Crew Dragon to go to the ISS as early as September this year.
