Japanese astronaut as commander of the International Space Station

According to Reuters, for the first time in history, the International Space Station (ISS) has a commander as a Japanese astronaut.

Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to be appointed commander of the International Space Station (ISS) - (Photo: Reuters)

Koichi Wakata, a 50-year-old Japanese astronaut, has just been appointed to replace Russian astronaut Oleg Kotov in leadership of the International Space Station. Previously, Mr. Wakata was one of the astronauts performing two space shuttle missions, after returning to Earth he was appointed to serve as a spacecraft engineer at the ISS Space Station.

Mr. Wakata said at NASA's television broadcast, 'I accept the mission of becoming an international space station commander. I am also very proud of myself as the first Japanese to receive this important order. That reflects the level of world trust in Japan and the achievements Japan has made in the past. '

One of his first assignments was the supervisor of the arrival of the Dragon technology space cargo ship, which was launched at Cape Canaveral airport next Sunday, scheduled to arrive at the ISS station on March 18. .

Known to date, the commander of the ISS station is often appointed to American and Russian astronauts.