Announcement of Japanese Expedition Crew to the ISS (Forwarded)

Public Affairs Department
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Marunouchi Kitaguchi Building,
1-6-5, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8260
Japan
TEL: +81-3-6266-6400

February 13, 2007 (JST)

Announcement of Japanese Expedition Crew to the International Space Station
(ISS)

Space organizations in Canada, the European Union, Japan, Russia and the
United States have agreed on the following schedule and members for the
16th to 18th Expedition Crew that will stay on the International Space
Station (ISS). We are pleased to announce that Astronaut Koichi Wakata of
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was selected as a prime member
of the Expedition 18 Crew and Astronaut Soichi Noguchi as his backup. This
is the first time for Japanese to be selected for an Expedition crew member
to stay in long dration on the ISS.

Expected Schedule to Stay on the ISS: Fiscal year 2008

Period of Stay: About three months

Expected Activities about "Kibo":
* Functional check-out of the Pressurized Module and science experiment
there
* Assembly and functional check-out of the Exposed Facility, and other
activities

Preparation for flight:
* Training for operations to assemble the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo
and for operation of each ISS element and to be on board a Space Shuttle and
Soyuz.

Members of the Expedition 18 Prime Crew:

* Commander:
E. Michel Fincke
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA)
(Flying to and from the ISS by Soyuz (Planned))

* Flight Engineers
Salizahan Shakirovich Sharipov
(Federal Space Agency, FSA)
(Flying to and from the ISS by Soyuz (Planned))

Koichi Wakata (JAXA)
(Flying to the ISS by the STS-126 (ULF1)
and
coming back by STS-127 (2J/A) (Planned))

Gregory E. Chamitoff (NASA)
(Flying to the ISS by STS-127 (2J/A) (Planned)
and
coming back by TBD)

Reference:

* Brief personal history of Astronaut Koichi Wakata and Astronaut Soichi
Noguchi
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/02/200...s_e.html#ref01
* Onboard Schedule for the Japanese Astronauts
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/02/200...s_e.html#ref02
* Comment from JAXA President
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/02/200...s_e.html#ref03

Reference Link:

* ISS Kibo Information Center
http://iss.sfo.jaxa.jp/index_e.html