Japan astronaut Yui arrives at ISS for 2nd space mission
The Crew-11 team, which also includes two Americans and one Russian, flew for nearly 15 hours after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday local time. They are on a six-month mission to conduct experiments aimed at supporting future lunar exploration and advancing the development of new drugs and materials.
"My fellow Japanese out there, I have come back to space for the first time in 10 years," Yui, a mission specialist, 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," he said.
Japan's Takuya Onishi, who has been staying at the ISS since March and serving as its commander since April, is scheduled to return to Earth after a handover period of several days. The 49-year-old former airline pilot is the third Japanese astronaut to serve as ISS commander.
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.
Among other duties, he will take part in testing carbon dioxide removal technology essential to the U.S.-led Artemis lunar exploration program.
Yui may also engage in capturing HTV-X, the new unmanned spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, by manipulating a robotic arm when the transfer vehicle approaches the ISS.
Besides JAXA's Yui, the Crew-11 mission includes Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke of NASA, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
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