Japan astronaut Yui heads to ISS on SpaceX craft on 2nd space mission
The Crew-11 mission, also involving two Americans and one Russian, will stay at the ISS for about six months, partly to conduct experiments in hopes of helping future lunar exploration. It is expected to reach the ISS in the early hours of Saturday.
"My fellow Japanese out there, I have come back to space for the first time in 10 years," Yui said in Japanese from inside the Crew Dragon capsule after it separated from the booster rocket. "I'm resolved to perform my duties well, shine like a star of the first magnitude and let people all over the world know great things about Japan."
Yui, a 55-year-old Nagano Prefecture native and former Air Self-Defense Force pilot, previously stayed at the ISS between July and December 2015, and was responsible for the docking of an unmanned supply craft developed by Japan.
Japan's Takuya Onishi, in command of the International Space Station since April, is due to return to Earth following a handover period of several days. The 49-year-old former airline pilot is the third Japanese astronaut to have served as ISS commander.
The Crew-11 mission comprises Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
Among other things, Yui will participate in a test of carbon dioxide removal technology necessary for Gateway, a space station that will orbit the Moon under the U.S.-led Artemis lunar exploration program.
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