Astronaut Takuya Onishi Set for Long-Term ISS Mission Around 2025; Fellow Astronaut Yui’s Mission Pushed Back

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, November 16, 2023

It has been decided that Takuya Onishi, a 47-year-old astronaut, will undertake a long-term mission at the International Space Station in or around 2025.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced the decision on Tuesday.

This will be Onishi’s second trip to space — from July to October 2016 he was a flight engineer aboard the ISS.

Onishi was formerly a pilot for All Nippon Airways. In 2009, he was selected to be an astronaut candidate by JAXA .

Since 2020, he has worked on the operations and management of the ISS Kibo laboratory module as a flight director for JAXA.

“I shall join hands with my fellow Kibo module operators and perform to my utmost to ensure that my mission will be highly fruitful,” Onishi posted on social media X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the timing of fellow astronaut Kimiya Yui’s long-term ISS mission has been changed from around 2024 to around 2025.

The ministry and JAXA said Yui will stay in the ISS at a different time to Onishi.