Soichi Noguchi

Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一, Noguchi Sōichi, born 15 April 1965 in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was most recently in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station (ISS), returning to Earth on 2 June 2010. He is the fifth Japanese astronaut to fly in space and the fourth to fly on the space shuttle.

Soichi Noguchi
Born (1965-04-15) April 15, 1965
Yokohama, Japan
StatusActive
NationalityJapanese
OccupationEngineer
Space career
NASDA/JAXA Astronaut
Time in space
177d 3h 5min
Selection1996 NASDA Group
Total EVAs
3[1]
Total EVA time
20h 05min[1]
MissionsSTS-114, Soyuz TMA-17 (Expedition 22/23), USCV-1 (Expedition 64/65)
Mission insignia

Personal life

Soichi Noguchi was born in 1965 in Yokohama, Japan. He considers Chigasaki, Japan, to be his hometown. He holds flight instructor certificate as CFII and MEI. Noguchi was a Boy Scout.[2][3][4] He is married and has three children.[5] His hobbies include jogging, basketball, skiing and camping.[6]

Education

Noguchi graduated from Chigasaki-Hokuryo High School in 1984, and then studied at the University of Tokyo, earning a bachelor's degree in 1989 and a master's degree in 1991, both in Aeronautical Engineering.[7]

Engineering career
Soichi Noguchi on his first spacewalk.
During the mission's second spacewalk STS-114 astronaut Soichi Noguchi waves from the Shuttle payload bay.

After graduation, Noguchi worked for Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, assigned to the research and development department of their Aero-Engine and Space Operations division. He worked on aerodynamic design of commercial engines.[7]

Astronaut career

Noguchi was selected as an astronaut candidate by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (now part of JAXA) in June 1996. In August 1996, he reported to NASA's Johnson Space Center for NASA astronaut training. Noguchi qualified as a mission specialist after two years, and received training on Russian space systems at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in 1998. He was assigned to technical support for the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station.

STS-114

In April 2001 Noguchi was assigned to the crew of STS-114 as a Mission Specialist, which at that point the flight was targeting launch to the ISS in 2003 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, he was assigned to the crew alongside NASA astronauts Eileen Collins (Commander), James Kelly (Pilot) and Stephen Robinson (Mission Specialist), they were also scheduled to be joined by the Expedition 7 crew, who would remain aboard the ISS, replacing the Expedition 6 crew who would land aboard STS-114.[8]

Noguchi and the crew trained for this flight until February 2003, when STS-107, the flight immediately prior to STS-114, broke up while returning to Earth, destroying the Space Shuttle Columbia and killing the seven astronauts onboard, following this all shuttle flights were delayed. Since STS-114 was scheduled to be the next mission to fly following STS-107, its designation and crew were assigned as the "return to flight" mission, their flight remained relatively similar although new tasked needed to verify the changes made to the shuttle and the shuttle flight plan were added to the flight. Also, the delay in shuttle flights meant the launch of Expedition 7 was moved from STS-114 to Soyuz TMA-2, leaving three more seats to be filled on STS-114, NASA astronauts Charles Camarda, Wendy Lawrence and Andrew Thomas were added to the crew to take their place.[8]

STS-114 during launch.

STS-114 launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on 26 July 2005, over two years since the Columbia disaster.[9] The shuttle docked to the ISS two days later, the crew joined the Expedition 11 crew consisting of Russian Commander Sergei Krikalev and American Flight Engineer John Phillips. Prior to docking to the station, Discovery and its crew performed the first-ever rendezvous pitch maneuver, which allowed the two crew members aboard the station to photograph and observe the shuttle's heat shield, allowing them to discover any possible damage on the spacecraft's heat shield, the maneuver was added following the Columbia disaster, which was caused by damage to the heat shield.[10]

During his first stay aboard the station, Noguchi performed three spacewalks, all three alongside Robinson. On the first excursion outside, the two tested new techniques for repairing damaged tiles on the shuttle's heat shield, while the second and third spacewalks were both dedicated to upgrading and maintaining the space station, replacing a Control Movement Gyro which had suffered a mechanical failure in 2002 and installing an External stowage platform which was brought up aboard STS-114.[11] Over the course of the three EVAs Noguchi spent 20 hours and 5 minutes outside the station.[1]

Noguchi and his crew mates returned to Earth on 9 August 2005, carrying over 7,055 pounds of equipment and trash down from the station inside of a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which had been used to bring up supplies to the station two weeks earlier. Discovery's landing at the Kennedy Space Centre wrapped up a 13 day, 21 hour, 32 minute and 48 second spaceflight.[12]

Expedition 22/23

Following STS-114, Noguchi was assigned as a back up ISS Flight Engineer for JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, who became the first Japansese astronaut to live long duration aboard the space station.[13] Following his assignment as a back up for Wakata, JAXA assigned Noguchi to the crew of ISS Expedition 22/23 alongside Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer.[14]

Noguchi and his two crew mates launched on 21 December 2009 aboard Soyuz TMA-17, he became the first JAXA astronaut and second Japanses citizen (following Tokyo Broadcasting System reporter Toyohiro Akiyama) to fly on a Soyuz spacecraft, the trio spent two days in free flight, before docking to the ISS and joining the Expedition 22 crew, joining American Commander Jeff Williams and Russian flight engineer Maksim Surayev.[15]

Soyuz TMA-17 launches to the ISS carrying Noguchi, Kotov and Creamer.

During Expedition 22, the crew were visited by Space Shuttle Endeavour during its penultimate flight, STS-130, which delivered the Node 3 module and the Cupola to the station, during this flight Noguchi was also in space with his former STS-114 crew mate Stephen Robinson, who was Mission Specialist on STS-130.[16] Soyuz TMA-16 returned to Earth on 18 March 2010, carrying Surayev and Williams back to Earth and officially ending Expedition 23, following which Noguchi Kotov and Creamer transferred to Expedition 23, with Kotov taking command of the station.[17] Shortly after they were joined by Soyuz TMA-18, carrying Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko as well as American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson.[18]

Expedition 23 was visited by two space shuttle missions, STS-131 and STS-132. STS-131 delivered new supplies to the ISS aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, the flight also carried JAXA mission specialist Naoko Yamazaki, who joined Noguchi on the station for a short while, marking the first time two Japanese citizens were in space at the same time.[19] Space Shuttle Atlantis launched to the station carrying the Russian Rassvet module to the station towards the end of Expedition 23.[20]

Noguchi, joined by Kotov and Creamer undocked from the station and returned to Earth on 1 June 2010, the trio touched down in Kazakhstan following 163 days in space, bringing up Noguchi's total time in space to 177 days.[21]

Third spaceflight

On 7 November 2017 JAXA announced Noguchi had been assigned to the crew of Expedition 62/63 as a Flight Engineer, scheduled for launch toward the end of 2019.[22] On 31 December 2018 he revealed his personal patch for the flight, during a tweet revealing the patch he also announced his mission would be launched aboard a Commercial Crew Vehicle, although it was not made clear whether his flight would take place aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon or Boeing Starliner.[23]

In March 2020 he was assigned to SpaceX Crew-1,[24][25] which will be the first operational flight of a SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft.[26] The mission will launch in late September 2020, pending the outcome of the first Dragon 2 crewed flight, SpaceX Demo-2, which splashed down on 2 August 2020, in the Gulf of Mexico.[27] SpaceX Crew-1 will transport NASA astrounauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker,[28] as well as Noguchi, all will be members of the Expedition 64 crew on the International Space Station.[29] Upon launch he will become the third person, and first non American, in history to launch aboard three different spacecraft; the Space Shuttle, the Soyuz, and the Dragon 2.[30]

Other highlights

Noguchi voices himself in episodes 13 and 26 of the anime series Uchū Kyōdai (Space Brothers), which aired on 24 June 2012 and 29 September 2012 respectively.[31]

On 2 August 2015, Noguchi spoke to 33,628 fellow Scouts during the Arena Event at the 23rd World Scout Jamboree, held in Japan.

References
  1. "Soichi Noguchi - EVA experience". www.spacefacts.de.
  2. Amiko Nevills (2005-03-31). "STS-114 Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi: Teaming up to Return to Flight, Scout's Honor". NASA. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  3. "General Mission Debriefing by Astronaut Soichi Noguchi". 2005-10-01. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  4. "Preflight Interview: Soichi Noguchi". NASA. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  5. Amit Asaravala (2005-07-08). "The Crew of Flight STS-114". Wired. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  6. "Biographies of International Astronauts-Noguchi Soichi Japan". Spacefacts. 2007-12-30. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  7. "Astronaut Bio: Soichi Noguchi (5/2008)". NASA. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  8. "STS-114". www.astronautix.com.
  9. "Spaceflight mission report: STS-114". www.spacefacts.de.
  10. McDonald, Terry. "NASA - Discovery, STS-114 Crew Arrive at Space Station". www.nasa.gov.
  11. "HSF - EVA's". spaceflight.nasa.gov.
  12. KSC, Lynda Warnock:. "NASA - STS-114". www.nasa.gov.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  13. "JAXA Astronauts - International Space Station - JAXA". iss.jaxa.jp.
  14. "NASA - NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". www.nasa.gov.
  15. "Mission of Soyuz TMA-17". www.russianspaceweb.com.
  16. "NASA - STS-130 MCC Status Report #05". www.nasa.gov.
  17. Garcia, Mark (February 12, 2015). "Expedition 23". NASA.
  18. "NASA - Soyuz TMA-18 is Rolled Out to the Launch Pad". www.nasa.gov.
  19. "NASA - STS-131 MCC Status Report #05". www.nasa.gov.
  20. "NASA - STS-132 MCC Status Report #05". www.nasa.gov.
  21. "NASA - Expedition 23 Crew Lands in Kazakhstan". www.nasa.gov.
  22. "JAXA | JAXA Astronaut Soichi Noguchi Selected as a Member of ISS Expedition Crew". JAXA | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
  23. "Tweet". twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  24. NASA (25 May 2020). "CCP - Press Kit". Commercial Crew Program. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020. The Crew; Victor Glover SpaceX Crew-1; Mike Hopkins SpaceX Crew-1; Soichi Noguchi SpaceX Crew-1; Shannon Walker SpaceX Crew-1 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  25. Shireman, Kirk (14 May 2020). "HEO NAC May 2020 International Space Station Status" (PDF). nasa.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020. Fall 2020 – SpaceX Crew-1 Launch and Dock [...] Demo2 in May/2020, Crew-1 in Fall/2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  26. "DM2 CCP Press Kit 2020". NASA. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  28. Clark, Stephen. "NASA, JAXA assign two more astronauts to second piloted Crew Dragon flight – Spaceflight Now".
  29. Sheetz, Michael (3 April 2020). "How NASA and SpaceX plan to launch astronauts in May despite a pandemic". CNBC. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  30. "Astronauts with three different rides to space - collectSPACE: Messages". www.collectspace.com.
  31. Ransom, Ko (2012-05-12). "Astronaut/Yamato Fan Noguchi Plays Himself in Space Brothers". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-10-28.

Sources

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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