Koichi Wakata

Koichi Wakata (若田 光一 Wakata Kōichi, born 1 August 1963) is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions, a Russian Soyuz mission, and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two-decade career in spaceflight, he has logged more than eleven months in space. During Expedition 39, he became the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. Wakata flew on the Soyuz TMA-11M/Expedition 38/Expedition 39 long duration spaceflight from 7 November 2013 to 13 May 2014. During this spaceflight he was accompanied by Kirobo, the first humanoid robot astronaut.

Biography from Launch Library 2.

• Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-5 — Mission Specialist · Success · October 5, 2022
• Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-11M — Mission Specialist · Success · November 7, 2013
• Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-119 — Mission Specialist · Success · March 15, 2009 · 23:43 UTC
• Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-92 — Mission Specialist · Success · October 11, 2000
• Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-72 — Mission Specialist · Success · January 11, 1996