- Koichi Wakata
Infobox Astronaut
name =Koichi Wakata
type =JAXA Astronaut
nationality =Japanese
date_birth =August 1 ,1963
place_birth =Omiya, Saitama
occupation =Pilot
selection =1992 NASA Group
time =21d 19h 44m
mission =STS-72 ,STS-92
insignia =|Koichi Wakata (若田 光一 "Wakata Kōichi", born
1 August 1963 ) is a Japanese astronaut fromJAXA and a veteran of twoNASA space shuttle missions.Wakata, born in
Omiya, Saitama , earned a masters degree in applied mathematics fromKyushu University in 1989. He worked as a structural engineer forJapan Airlines . Wakata was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1992 and trained at NASA'sJohnson Space Center ; he flew aboardSTS-72 in 1996 andSTS-92 in 2000 as a mission specialist. On the 1996 mission, he and fellow astronaut Dan Barry became the first people to play Go in space. Wakata and Barry used a special Go set, which was named Go Space, designed by Wai-Cheung Willson Chow.Wakata is currently training for his third flight, a long duration mission to the International Space Station. He will launch in October 2008 as a Mission Specialist on the
STS-119 mission.Cite web| url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/oct/HQ_07229_STS-119-Crew.html|title=NASA Assigns Crew for Final Solar Array Delivery to Station|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=October 19| publisher=NASA| year=2007| author=NASA] He will serve as Flight Engineer 2 onExpedition 18 before returning home as a Mission Specialist onSTS-127 .References
External links
* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/wakata.html NASA Biography]
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/wakata_koichi.htm Spacefacts biography of Koichi Wakata]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.