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Chiaki Mukai

Japanese - (JAXA)

Retired

Date of Birth: May 6, 1952
Age: 73


Chiaki Mukai (向井 千秋 Mukai Chiaki, born May 6, 1952, Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan) is a Japanese doctor and JAXA astronaut. She was the first Japanese woman in space, and was the first Japanese citizen to have two spaceflights. Both were Space Shuttle missions; her first was STS-65 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in July 1994, which was a Spacelab mission. Her second spaceflight was STS-95 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. In total she has spent 23 days in space.

Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-65

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
July 8, 1994, 4:43 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-65 was a Space Shuttle program mission of Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 8 July 1994. The flight was commanded by Robert D. Cabana who would go on later to lead the Kennedy Space Center.

Low Earth Orbit
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Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-95

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Oct. 29, 1998, 7:19 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-95 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998, using the orbiter Discovery. It was the 25th flight of Discovery and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981. It was a highly publicized mission due to former Project Mercury astronaut and United States Senator John H. Glenn, Jr.'s return to space for his second space flight. At age 77, Glenn became the oldest person, to date, to go into space. This mission is also noted for inaugurating ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the U.S., with live coast-to-coast coverage of the launch. In another first, Pedro Duque became the first Spaniard in space.

Low Earth Orbit
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Administrator: Hiroshi Yamakawa

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's national aero-space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and the launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions, such as asteroid exploration and possible manned exploration of the Moon. JAXA launch their Epsilon vehicle from the Uchinoura Space Center and their H-II vehicles from the Tanegashima Space Center.


New Shepard
Success
13 hours, 32 minutes ago
NS-34
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-33 is the 14th crewed flight for the New Shepard program and the 34th in its history.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 10 hours ago
Crew-11
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

SpaceX Crew-11 is the eleventh crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial …


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 7 hours ago
Starlink Group 13-4
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 19 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kuaizhou
Success
4 days ago
PRSC-S1
Mobile Launcher Pad - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese built Earth observation satellite for Pakistan’s SUPARCO (Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission).


GSLV Mk II
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR satellite, will use advanced radar imaging to map the elevation of Earth's land and ice masses 4 to …