The commander of the ISS will be the first representative of Japan
In the Japanese space agency Jaxa said that in March next year for the first time in the history of the commander of the crew of the International Space Station will be the Japanese. Until now, the status of the commanders of the ISS were mainly Russians or the Americans. It is about 50-year-old Koichi Wakata. He had once been on the ISS in November and plans to go there again, having received the status of commander in March.
"This is a great value and responsibility for the Japanese space, we have long wanted to have their own representative team to the ISS. Receive similar experience is essential for Japan's space program" - says he Wakata. in 2009 Wakata has become the first Japanese on board the ISS, carrying both general flight tasks, and working for Japan's space program. Japan - one of the 15 countries participating in the ISS project, formerly the space station was taken to the space laboratory module Kibo.
expected that Wakata will fly to the ISS in November, along with Russian Mikhail Tyurin and NASA representative Rick Mastracchio. For Mastracchio - this is the first long-term mission to the station, but in the three times he commands the shuttle was a two-week flight, while Tyurin was already on the ISS twice in the long-term operations.
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