Space · astronaut
Koichi Wakata
JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY
JAPANESE
ACTIVE
Career
Time in space
504 d 18 h
Spacewalks
2
14 h 2 m outside
Flights
5
5 landings
Status
Active
Nationality
JapaneseBorn
01 Aug 1963First flight
11 Jan 1996Most recent flight
05 Oct 2022Type
GovernmentLinks
WikipediaBiography
Koichi Wakata (若田 光一 Wakata Kōichi, born 1 August 1963) is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions, a Russian Soyuz mission, and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two-decade career in spaceflight, he has logged more than eleven months in space. During Expedition 39, he became the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. Wakata flew on the Soyuz TMA-11M/Expedition 38/Expedition 39 long duration spaceflight from 7 November 2013 to 13 May 2014. During this spaceflight he was accompanied by Kirobo, the first humanoid robot astronaut.
Flight log
Flights
| No. | Flight | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 05 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-5 | 05 Oct 2022 |
| 04 | Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-11M | 07 Nov 2013 |
| 03 | Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-119 | 15 Mar 2009 |
| 02 | Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-92 | 11 Oct 2000 |
| 01 | Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-72 | 11 Jan 1996 |
Table scrolls sideways →
Source The Space Devs — Launch Library 2
Last checked 29 Sept 2026