About noon today, NASA/SpaceX's Commercial Crew Program launched its fifth crew to the International Space Station. Its crew consists of Commander Nicole Mann (NASA), Pilot Josh Cassada (NASA), Anna Kikina (Roscosmos), and Koichi Wakata (JAXA), who is on his fifth spaceflight. They plan to dock with the ISS tomorrow.
They are scheduled to stay in space for approximately six months and return to Earth in March.
STS-127 crew (L-R): David Wolf, Chris Cassidy, Doug Hurley, Julie Payette, Mark Polansky, Thomas Marshburn, Timothy Kopra
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-127), launched July 15, 2009, delivered the final components of the Japanese Experiment Module to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley, Chris Cassidy, Julie Payette (CSA), Thomas Marshburn, David Wolf, and Timothy Kopra.
It was the first time two Candians were in space at the same time: Payette and Robert Thirsk. Wolf, Kopra, Marshburn, and Cassidy performed 5 EVAs during the mission.
Kopra stayed on board the ISS and Koichi Wakata returned with the rest of the crew on July 31.
Back row (L–R) Joe Acaba, John L. Phillips, Steven Swanson, Richard Arnold, Koichi Wakata.
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-119) was launched March 15, 2009, the 125th shuttle mission and 28th trip to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli, Joe Acaba, Steven Swanson, Richard Arnold, John L. Phillips and Koichi Wakata from JAXA.
A free-tailed bat was seen clinging to a fuel tank during the launch. NASA observers thought it was have flown off once the shuttle started to launch but it did not. A bat doctor analyzed the pictures and believed that it might have had a broken wing which is why it didn't fly away. It probably was shaken off and incinerated in the rocket exhaust.
They docked with the ISS on March 17 and crew performed three EVAs during the mission. Wakata remained on board the ISS as part of Expedition 18. Sandra Magnus, another member of Expedition 18, returned to Earth with the STS-119 crew March 28.
Standing: Winston Scott, Leroy Chiao, Koichi Wakata, Daniel Barry
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off January 11, 1996 on its tenth mission (STS-72). Its primary mission was to capture a Japanese microgravity research satellite and return it to Earth.
Endeavour's crew consisted of Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Brent Jett, Mission Specialist Leroy Chiao, Mission Specialist Winston Scott, Mission Specialist Koichi Wakata (JAXA) and Mission Specialist Daniel Barry.
Wakata operated the remote manipulator system arm on the shuttle to capture the satellite.
On the seventh day of the flight, Scott climbed into the payload bay and Endeavour was maneuvered into a position where he would be exposed to the extreme cold of space (-104 °F) to test how his spacesuit would protect him.
The Soyuz TMA-11M mission, launched November 7, 2013, was the 120th flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. When Soyuz reached the International Space Station, the Olympic torch was passed for the first time in outer space! It returned to Earth 5 days later on Soyuz TMA-09M.
TMA-11M's crew consisted of Commander Mikhail Tyurin (Russian), Flight Engineer Richard Mastracchio (Connecticut) and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata (Japanese).
Back row (L-R): Chiao, Lopez-Alegria, McArthur, Wisoff, Wakata
Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off October 11, 2000 on the 100th mission (STS-92) of the space shuttle program. Seven astronauts docked with the International Space Station for seven days and performed 4 EVAs.
Discovery's crew consisted of Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pamela Melroy (remember her? She was the one who had Alan Parsons Project's Prime Time as her wake up call!), Mission Specialist 1 Koichi Wakata (remember him? He would be the first Japanese commander of the ISS!), Mission Specialist 2 William McArthur, Mission Specialist 3 Peter Wisoff, Mission Specialist 4 Michael Lopez-Alegria (remember him? He's the first Spanish-born astronaut in space!), and Mission Specialist 5 Leroy Chiao (remember him? He's the one who saw UFO lights during an EVA!).
Koichi Wakata, born August 1, 1963 in Japan, is the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. He trained as an astronaut for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and has flown on four space shuttle missions and one Soyuz mission, spending almost a year total in space.
He traveled to the ISS on Soyuz TMA-11M, November 2013 as part of Expedition 38. He became commander of the ISS (the 3rd non-American, non-Russian commander) when Expedition 39 started in March 2014. He returned to Earth in May 2014.
