Takao Doi

Takao Doi (土井 隆雄, Doi Takao, born September 18, 1954) is a Japanese astronaut and veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions.

Not to be confused with Takako Doi.
Takao Doi
Born (1954-09-18) September 18, 1954
Tokyo, Japan
StatusRetired
NationalityJapanese
OccupationEngineer
Space career
NASA/JAXA Astronaut
Time in space
31d 19h 35min
Selection1985 NASDA Group
Total EVAs
2
Total EVA time
12 hours, 43 minutes[1]
MissionsSTS-87, STS-123
Mission insignia

Doi holds a doctorate from the University of Tokyo in aerospace engineering, and has studied and published in the fields of propulsion systems, and microgravity technology. He researched at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and was selected by NASDA as an astronaut candidate in 1985 for the Japanese manned space program while also conducting research in the United States at NASA's Lewis Research Center and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Doi flew as a mission specialist aboard STS-87 in 1997, during which he became the first Japanese astronaut to conduct a spacewalk.

He received a Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Tokyo, and also a Ph.D in Astronomy from Rice University in 2004.

Takao Doi visited the International Space Station in March 2008 as a member of the STS-123 crew. STS-123 delivered the first module of the Japanese laboratory, Kibō, and the Canadian Dextre robot to the space station. During this mission, he became the first person to throw a boomerang in space that had been specifically designed for use in microgravity during spaceflight.[2]

Doi retired from astronaut duty and now works as the chief of Space Applications Section of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, starting in September 2009.[3]

In April 2016, he became a professor at the Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space of Kyoto University.[4]

As an avid amateur astronomer, he discovered supernovae SN 2002gw and SN 2007aa.[5][6]

Notes
  1. "Takao Doi (Ph.D.) JAXA Astronaut (Former) Biography on the NASA website". NASA. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  2. "Boomerangs in Space". Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  3. "Veteran Japanese astronaut Takao Doi to take up UN job". The Mainichi Daily News. June 6, 2009. Archived from the original on June 8, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2009. (found in archive.org capture)
  4. 宇宙飛行士の土井隆雄さん、京大特定教授に. Yomiuri Online (in Japanese). The Yomiuri Shimbun. March 7, 2016. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  5. "IAUC 7995". 2002-10-17. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  6. "Supernova 2007aa in NGC 4030". Retrieved 2014-03-27.
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