Interview with SpaceX Crew-5 JAXA astronaut, Dr. Koichi Wakata
(re-release interview from 2020).  

Dr. Koichi Wakata has accumulated more than 350 days in space spanning five missions, setting a record in Japanese human space flight history for the longest stay in space. He has flown on three space shuttle missions, and a Soyuz mission, and became the first Japanese Commander of the International Space Station. Dr. Wakata has held several key positions with JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, including serving as JAXA Vice President and Senior Advisor.

With the Crew 5 mission, Dr. Wakata made his fifth trip to space and now that he’s aboard the International Space Station, he will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 68. Dragon was the third different type of spacecraft Dr. Wakata has flown to space.

 In this interview (from 2020), we discuss how Dr. Wakata became an astronaut, plus JAXA missions such as Hayabusa2, IKAROS, JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) and MMX (Martian Moons Exploration).

For more information, visit https://global.jaxa.jp/