Soichi Noguchi

Soichi Noguchi
Noguchi at Ellington Field in 2020
Born (1965-04-15) 15 April 1965 (age 59)
Yokohama, Japan
StatusRetired
Nationality Japan
OccupationEngineer
Space career
NASDA/JAXA astronaut
Time in space
344 days 9 hours 33 minutes
Selection1996 NASDA Group
Total EVAs
4[1]
Total EVA time
27h 01min[1]
MissionsSTS-114, Soyuz TMA-17 (Expedition 22/23), SpaceX Crew-1 (Expedition 64/65)
Mission insignia

Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一, Noguchi Sōichi, born 15 April 1965) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former 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 also 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 sixth Japanese astronaut to fly in space, the fifth to fly on the Space Shuttle, and the first to fly on Crew Dragon.[2]

His third flight was on board the Dragon 2 capsule for the SpaceX Crew-1 mission which launched successfully on 15 November 2020 and landed on 2 May 2021. This makes him the third astronaut to fly on three different launch systems.[2]

He became a part-time lecturer at the graduate school of the University of Tokyo since 2011, a project professor since 2021.[3] As of 2022, he is a project professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nihon University.[4]

He retired from astronaut duty and quit JAXA on 1 June 2022.[5] He assumed the honorary director of CupNoodles Museum since 7 June 2022,[6] the chief executive fellow of the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies[7] and the advisor of IHI Corporation since 1 July 2022.[8] He is the representative of MiraiSpace Co., Ltd. (合同会社未来圏).[8][9]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference eva was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Clark, Stephen. "Veteran Japanese astronaut to become SpaceX's first international passenger – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Researcher's Profile". Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  4. ^ 教員一覧 (in Japanese). Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nihon University. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  5. ^ 野口聡一宇宙飛行士記者会見 (in Japanese). JAXA. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  6. ^ 宇宙食ラーメン食べた縁、野口聡一さんが「カップヌードルミュージアム」名誉館長に (in Japanese). The Yomiuri Shimbun. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  7. ^ NECグループシンクタンク 国際社会経済研究所の理事に宇宙飛行士の野口聡一氏が、７月１日付で就任 (in Japanese). Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  8. ^ a b 宇宙飛行士の野口聡一氏がIHIのエグゼクティブ・アドバイザーに就任 (in Japanese). IHI Corporation. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  9. ^ 会社概要 (in Japanese). MiraSpace Co., Ltd. Retrieved 3 July 2022.