Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, who has been preparing and training for the ISS long-duration mission, will board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft 7 (Crew-7) scheduled to be launched after the summer of 2023. has been decided, according to a release by Japanese Aerospace Agency, JAXA,
Crew-7 is expected to board the same aircraft that has been refurbished from Crew-5’s Endurance, on which Astronaut Wakata and others boarded and returned.
Astronaut Furukawa will be his second space flight. We will inform you once the Crew-7 launch date is decided.
In this long-stay mission to the ISS, I would like to take full advantage of the results of the training I have accumulated so far, and work steadily with sincerity and an objective perspective with a broad perspective, says Astronaut Satoshi.
In particular, we will make use of the special environment of the ISS, such as the long-term stable microgravity, to improve our lives on the ground. I would like to contribute to the realization of solving problems during my stay through teamwork with many people involved in the use and operation of the ISS/Kibo Japanese Experiment Module, he said.