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MONTHLY NEWS January 1997 Japanese Astronaut to Spacewalk |
A Japanese astronaut will be the first non-American aboard a U.S. spacecraft to walk in space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced in November.
Mission specialist Takao Doi will join the crew of the space shuttle Columbia for a 16-day mission in October next year. The mission will pave the way for an international project to build a space station starting in November 1997. |
The 42-year-old astronaut will join four others aboard the Columbia to be launched on October 9, 1997. Doi will perform experiments outside the shuttle with a welding system that will be used in repairing the space station. He is also scheduled to release and retrieve a small solar observation satellite by manipulating robot arms.
Doi will be the fourth Japanese to go on a U.S. shuttle mission. He was among the first three Japanese candidates selected in August 1985 by the National Space Development Agency of Japan to participate in the shuttle program. The other two, Mamoru Mori and Chiaki Mukai, have already served on earlier missions. "I'm relieved that I'll finally get my chance to fly," Doi said at a news conference. "And I'm looking forward to the challenge of completing the mission successfully. I'm also looking forward to spacewalking, which will be a completely new experience; it will feel like I've become a satellite unto myself."
Photos: Doi undergoing flight training (top; NASDA) and preparing for his mission (above; NASA). 
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